As the picture popped up in the right corner of the screen, Lena covered her mouth and gasped.
Ariel!
She paused the screen, absorbing the bruises and injuries to her face. The picture partially showed her neck and more bruises. The facts of the case began to pour into her mind. Stab wounds, sexual assault, murder.
She felt as if she were going to vomit as the tears hit her eyes.
Ariel was dead, murdered, and the police had no leads. Lena knew who was responsible, and the fury hit her so hard she wanted to scream or hit something. Instead she calmed her breathing. Oh my God, Sage?
She couldn’t make noise. She needed to look further. She was so worried about Sage that she began to panic. Sage was only sixteen and now on her own. She hoped that Triumph hadn’t taken her, too.
She felt the sadness begin to overwhelm her. Ariel was dead and no one even cared except for her, and she was all the way in Texas. If the police couldn’t identify her, then what?
Lena pulled up the article again. She grabbed a pencil and paper and wrote down the number for the police department and precinct plus the detective involved. She needed to know what would happen to Ariel if she wasn’t identified.
She logged off the computer and walked down the hall to the pay phone. There was a door for privacy. With shaky hands, she dialed the number. She asked for the detective involved, and they connected her to the gang unit. Could they already think that a gang committed the murder?
“Detroit Police Department, Detective Reynolds speaking.”
“I’m calling to inquire about the young woman found murdered.”
“Which woman would that be, ma’am?”
Lena swallowed hard, of course there would be more than one woman murdered in the city of Detroit. She had to be more specific.
“The one found in the Dumpster on the twentieth.”
“Oh, the Jane Doe?”
“Yes.”
“Who is this?” he asked.
“I just want to know what will happen if she isn’t identified? Will you still find her killer?”
“Honey, if you have information on this young woman, you need to come down to the department and speak with me.”
“No. I just want to know what will happen. What is the procedure?”
“Well, unfortunately if she’s not identified, her case will be put aside. We have bodies popping up left and right around here with people whose names and place of residence we can identify and locate. We don’t have the manpower to initiate all the protocol necessary to search for this woman’s identity. So, if you know who she is, it would be great if you could tell me so I can put the individual responsible behind bars.”
“Ariel Burres,” Lena stated then hung up the phone.
She opened the door and took a deep breath. Very quietly, she exited the library, hopped on her bike, and began to ride. As her mind thought about what just happened and what she read, the tears began to stream down her face. Soon she couldn’t see. She thought about Kenny and how upset he was thinking about the woman and how easily that could have been Lena. It could have been her. She could be dead instead of out here in Texas in love with four amazing men.
Poor Sage, she must be scared out of her mind.
Lena couldn’t ride her bike anymore. She got off and began to walk toward the back of the buildings and toward the fields and a sitting area way up on the hill. She made her way there, grateful that no one was around. She laid her bike down and stared out at the wild flowers.
It was already getting late, the sun was beginning to set and the sky was turning gray. A storm was brewing. A cool breeze caressed her shoulder and blew her hair back behind her. She lifted her chin toward the breeze as she thought about her life.
If she had stayed in Detroit, perhaps Ariel would be alive. If she had stayed in Detroit, Triumph would have raped her and maybe even killed her by now. She shivered as she remembered his attack before she escaped. The tears rolled down her cheeks as sadness overwhelmed her.
* * * *
It was getting dark and Lena had not returned from town. The rain began to fall, and Bryant was concerned. He called Kenny again.
“There’s still no sign of her anywhere. Blake and Quinn are looking and so are Wyatt, Kyle, and the other ranch hands. She was last seen in town around five o’clock in the library.”
“The library?” Bryant asked as he ran his fingers through his hair.
“Yeah, Daisy said that Lena used the computer then left.”
“Damn, Kenny, I hope she didn’t leave town or something.”
“Why would she do that?”
“Maybe she’s scared, I don’t know.”
“No way. Something happened, and I’m going to find out the second we find her.”
“Keep me posted, Kenny. Please find her. I feel so useless sitting here.”
“Stay there in case she returns to her place or yours.”
“I will.”
* * * *
Kenny disconnected the call and began taking the road back toward the ranch. As he approached the long strip a mile and a half before the entrance, he saw the bike and Lena struggling through the downpour. Thank God.
He radioed in. “I found her. I’m bringing her home.”
Kenny pulled up a bit past her, and she didn’t stop.
“Lena!” he called to her over the wind and the pouring rain. It was as if she was so lost in thought she hadn’t seen him or heard him at all.
He got in front of her, and when she looked up, she looked so sad. She was drenched. He was furious with her because he was so scared that something had happened to her.
“Where the hell have you been? You had us so worried about you. We’ve been searching for hours.”
She was looking down at the ground.
“Goddamn it, Lena, look at me when I’m talking to you.”
He placed his hands on her shoulders, and she jumped into his arms and sobbed hysterically. He felt her shaking and crying against his chest and it shocked him. Something was terribly wrong.
He lifted her up and carried her into his truck. She wouldn’t release her hold on him.
“We need to get you out of those wet clothes, Lena, before you get sick. Come on, honey, let me drive you back to the ranch.”
“My cottage,” she cried.
“Okay honey, your cottage.”
He called into the main office and gave them an update as he brought Lena home.
The moment he pulled into the long driveway he could see all the lights on between the main house, Bryant’s house, and Lena’s cottage. Blake’s and Quinn’s trucks were parked outside and so were his fathers’.
* * * *
“Where the hell did you go?” Bryant asked, and everyone stared at Lena. Bryant was insane with worry for her. So many thoughts went through her head.
When she looked up with red, swollen eyes, he knew that she had been crying.
“I’m sorry,” she whispered in such a mouse of a voice he barely heard her.
“Let’s get her out of these wet things,” Abigail stated, and Lena stood dripping onto the mat by the front door.
“Maybe you men should leave this to me for now,” Abigail suggested, and Bryant stared at Lena, filled with anger, frustration and anxiety.
“I want to know where she’s been.”
“Let Mom help her first and then we’ll get down to what happened,” Blake stated as he placed his hand on Bryant’s shoulder.
Bryant glared at his brother then turned to walk onto the porch. All the men followed and stood beneath the canopy covering.
“I don’t get it. She looks so scared and out of it,” Quinn stated aloud, and Bryant looked back toward the doorway as his mom helped Lena out of her wet clothes. She disappeared into her bedroom and closed the door.
“Something happened. You’re right about her looking scared, Blake. You all need to remain calm. The scare is over, and Kenny found her,” Frank told them.
“She was so out of it when I found her. She hadn’t heard me pull up or even seen the headlights on the truck. It was as if she were in a fog,” Kenny told them as he walked back toward the door. The minutes passed and they all grew restless.
“Anything happen today to set her off or frighten her?” Doc asked.
Blake and Quinn looked at one another.
“I may have gotten a bit jealous up at the horse stables when I saw Kyle too close to her,” Blake admitted.
“We made up for that, and she forgave us, Blake. She basically laughed at Blake’s response.”
“We’ve been spending a lot of time with her, Dad. We told her that we want her to be ours. All of us,” Quinn stated then looked at Bryant. Frank, Will, and Doc nodded their heads.
“You be sure about this? A relationship like the one your fathers and I have with your mother is sacred. It involves a total commitment by all parties involved,” Frank stated sternly. Kenny chuckled.
“We know, Dad. We’ve been over this a bunch of times. We’re all in love with her,” Kenny stated.
“Then you need to take care of her and find out why she’s hurting right now. When you do, you need to remain calm and handle it the right way and with her best interest in mind. It may not be easy, but it’s the best thing to do,” Will added.
They were getting antsy and wondering what was taking so long.
“Perhaps your mom is getting to the bottom of things,” Doc suggested. They heard someone approach.
Abigail walked out onto the front porch.
“We should head home. This is a conversation for Lena and her men.” They watched as Abigail headed down the steps toward the truck. Their fathers followed.
* * * *
Lena finished taking a hot shower. She dried herself off and then blow-dried her hair. She was stalling. She knew that, and she knew that Kenny, Bryant, Blake, and Quinn were angry with her. They would want answers. Was she ready to share what she knew and about how Triumph attacked her and could possibly be Ariel’s killer? Could she tell them that she was heading back to Detroit to find Sage?
Lena pulled on a pair of shorts and a tank top. She felt a chill but had forgotten to bring in a sweatshirt. She had shared some of what happened with Abigail, and Abigail told her that she needed to trust her sons to take care of her and respect her wishes. She also cried with Lena as she shared her sadness.
Lena felt lucky to have been found by such great people like Doc and Abigail. She wanted to stay. She didn’t want to go back to her old life, but she knew she would have to face her demons and go save Sage. Ariel was murdered, and Sage could be next.
Lena opened the door. To her surprise the men weren’t waiting in the bedroom. They were standing in the kitchen.
She began to rummage through her drawers for her favorite sweatshirt. She couldn’t stop the tears falling from her eyes as she sniffled then pulled the sweatshirt on, hood and all.
“Lena?” she heard Bryant’s voice, and she couldn’t look at him. Her emotions were getting the best of her. She was a mess.
“We need to talk, Lena,” he told her, and she nodded her head.
“I can’t stop crying,” she whispered, and a moment later he was sitting on her bed, pulling her into his arms.
The feel of his body, his strong arms holding her and the scent of his cologne, made her feel safe. Ariel never got to experience true love from a real man, and Sage may never either. She began to sob, her own thoughts clouding her ability to begin to explain why she was so upset.
“Oh, baby, please talk to us. You’re breaking my heart. I don’t know what to do or how to help you unless you talk to me.”
The bed dipped, and she felt hands on her back, caressing and rubbing her.
“Talk to us,” Kenny whispered.
She turned to look at Kenny. The tears continued to roll down her cheeks.
“You know that case you mentioned? The one from Detroit?” she asked, and he squinted his eyes as if thrown off by the subject.
“Well, after you told me, I kept thinking and worrying about my friend.”
She sniffled and took a deep breath. “Oh God, Kenny, I went to the library to look up the information in the news. I recognized the street where they found her. They called her Jane Doe because they didn’t know who she was. It’s been weeks now, Kenny. They’re going to close the case.”
“Calm down, baby. I don’t understand why you’re so upset,” Blake stated as he knelt down in front of her and rubbed her knees.
“There was a video of a newscaster’s report on the body found and the murder. It was my friend, Ariel Burres. She lived with me before I escaped that night.”
“Oh Jesus, baby,” Kenny said then placed his hand against her cheek.
“They showed her picture on the news. She was bruised and beaten. They raped her. I know they did. That night I escaped.”
“You escaped? Escaped from who, Lena?” Bryant asked.
She swallowed hard.
“The one who killed Ariel.”
The room went silent as she hugged Bryant and shook with fear.
* * * *
Kenny looked at his brothers. He was shocked. Lena never told them that she ran from some kind of danger. He wanted to know who this guy was and how Lena knew that he was the one who killed Ariel. He wanted to know all the details, but she was shaking. This was serious.
Blake and Quinn looked about to explode, and Bryant held Lena against him with both arms wrapped tightly.
Kenny caressed her back.
“Lena, I have some questions for you. You need to explain a few things.”
She pulled back slowly from Bryant and wiped the tears from her eyes.
“I know you want to interrogate me and find out what I know. I didn’t tell you everything about my life back in Detroit because I wanted to put it behind me. I didn’t do anything that I regret except for sticking around as long as I did. “
“Then explain, Lena. Tell us everything now,” Bryant whispered as he pushed a strand of hair away from her face then lifted her off his lap and placed her on the bed.
She tucked her feet under her and stared at Kenny.
“First tell us about Ariel.”
“I met Ariel a year ago. She left home because her parents were divorced and basically fought all the time and tried to use her against one another. At least that’s what she had told me. We lived on the streets together and watched one another’s backs. When I slept, she kept on guard, and I did the same for her. Being a young woman alone on the streets is tough. I begged Mark, a guy that owned a local restaurant, for a job. I told him that I would work hard and that he could trust me to show up every night. I would shower at the shelter as Ariel kept guard so no perverts would break in and rape us.”
“Damn.” Quinn ran a hand through his hair. Kenny thought this was tough to hear, never mind go through. He wasn’t sure how he was going to handle what she revealed.
“It worked out and I started working. We shared the money I made, and we were able to at least eat a few times a week.”
“A few times a week?” Blake asked, sounding shocked.
Lena looked at Blake.
“Sometimes I’d go a week or more without even a scrap of food. It was the reality of street life,” she stated, and Bryant caressed her shoulder.
“Anyway, it was working out fine and then Ariel started working a bit, too. She didn’t tell me what she was doing, but she was making some serious money. I had seen these guys hanging around her, and when I questioned her, she admitted that she was making deliveries.”
“She was helping a drug dealer?” Kenny asked.
“Yep. She found this trailer that was left from a botched construction site and said that it was safe and that she knew the owner and we could stay there. I was thrilled because the shelters were really unsafe and there were people looking to grab young women, force them into prostitution and even sell them as sex slaves. There were girls as young as fourteen drugged out,
unaware of what men were doing to them as the pimps got paid. Never mind the gangbangers.” She swallowed hard.
“I stayed away from all of it. I focused on working and saving my money so I could leave. I had no idea where I would go, but as things got worse, I had to start to plan my escape.”
“How did they get worse?” Blake asked.
“Ariel’s little sister showed up. She had no place to go, and Ariel told her she could stay with us. She had lied about being an only child. I think she lied about her family life, too. I couldn’t ask her, and as the weeks went on, I wound up taking care of her sister. Ariel was either high or—”
Lena stopped and swallowed hard.
“Or what?” Kenny asked.
Lena got up, and Kenny touched her hand to stop her.
She remained still as he held her hand, but she looked out the window.
“The night I had to escape I was attacked by the main drug dealer in charge of the gang of guys that hung around the trailer and around Ariel. She would warn me if he and his crew were coming around because she knew that he wanted me and that I wasn’t interested. She hadn’t warned me, and I didn’t understand why until later.
“I came back late from work. I was hiding my bike behind the set of bushes by the trailer when he came up from behind and started talking to me. One thing led to another, and soon he wasn’t taking no for an answer. He was banging my back against the trailer as I tried to fight him off. By some miracle, as I reached for something to hit him with, my hands found a piece of metal from the siding, and I hit him with it. He hit me back, we fought, and I just kept swinging the metal until he was on the ground. I ran to the side of the trailer, grabbed my money I’d saved, some stuff I fit in a duffle bag, and turned to leave. That’s when I saw Ariel.”
Kenny squeezed her hand. “What did you see?”
“Ariel was naked, spread open as the guys had their way with her. She was laughing and drunk or high, whatever, but that added to the threat on my life. I left her there, Kenny.”
Lena's Happily Ever After [The Town of Pearl 3] (Siren Publishing Ménage Everlasting) Page 19
