Gloria’s Secret

by Robin Alexander

  Mom joined me and shared what she and Iris had been able to coax out of Teddy. “This child has been seriously neglected. He’s been alone in that shack for a few days now, and she’s not been around to check on him at all. His mother, and I use that term loosely, told him not to go outside. I don’t know if she even had plans to return.”

  My heart broke for Teddy, and I felt incredibly guilty for overlooking his suffering so I could find out about Adrienne. “I should go and talk to him.”

  “Iris took him to have a bath, now that he’s been fed. That poor little thing ate like a grown man, he was starving.”

  Mom had tears in her eyes, and mine filled right along with hers.

  “I feel terrible that he’s suffered so much, but if his own mother treated him that way…what’s she doing to Adrienne? Marta took Adrienne knowing that we’d comb the island looking for her, then she came here and plundered our cottage and Iris’s house. Either she left Adrienne alone, and made it where she couldn’t escape, or someone is there keeping watch over her. Either scenario makes me ill.”

  As the day drew to a close, I was disheartened that we hadn’t gotten a call from Colie. Dad, Jeff, and Wanda dragged in well after dark, but assured me that the night crew had come in and the search would continue. They’d been paired up with locals who knew the island and had searched an extensive amount of area, rarely taking breaks.

  I felt useless and angry. When everyone went to bed for the night, I went back to my cottage and sat in the dark. I knew Iris was taking good care of Teddy, and he was probably being treated better than he ever had in his young life. That thought brought me some peace.

  We’re still looking for you, love, we won’t give up, I said in my mind, hoping against hope that Adrienne could hear my thoughts and take comfort in them. When I could take it no longer, I roamed the grounds, trying to be as quiet as I could. If Marta dared come back, I wanted to be there to greet her.

  In the wee hours of morning, I returned to the bar. It was so still nothing made a sound, no insects twittered, and no night birds sang their songs. I didn’t bother with any of the lights; instead, I settled into a chaise lounge and waited for news.

  I’d dozed off, but my sleep was restless. I kept hearing things, or at least I thought I did, and I would strain my ears for sound. I wasn’t sure if I dreamed it or not, but it sounded like someone was in the kitchen. I lay still for a few minutes, then I heard it again. Someone or something was rustling through what sounded like the pantry.

  I got up and moved as quietly as I could. I figured it was a member of my family rooting around for a snack, or maybe an early breakfast. The rubber soles of my crutches barely made a sound as I made my way into the dining room, where the noises were louder.

  Whoever it was didn’t bother to turn on the lights, and that struck me as odd. Someone unfamiliar with the kitchen would surely need light. Cold chills raced down my spine as I contemplated what to do next. If I chanced hobbling back to the cottages for help, then whoever was in there would have a chance to leave. I could be heard if I tried to use the phone. So I stood listening and debating my options.

  My only viable choice was to wait for this person to pass through the doorway that I hid next to. I could surprise him and maybe scream for help. I leaned a crutch against the wall and steadied myself. I held the other one in both hands like a bat and waited.

  My left leg supporting my weight began to burn, and I couldn’t help but slide down the wall. I knelt putting most of my weight on my knees and good leg. It turned out to be the best thing I could have done. Footsteps approached, and I gripped the crutch until my fingers ached, praying all the while I wasn’t about to cut a loved one off at the knees.

  A dark form moved through the doorway and I swung with all I had in me, screaming as I did. My victim hit the floor with a thud and I put the crutch to good use. I was about to land my third blow when I was hit in the chest with the full body weight of my attacker, sending me to the floor on my back with my legs folded behind me. The sharp pain in my leg forced me to react and I rolled hard, pinning what was obviously a woman.

  The smell of mildew and sweat assaulted my sinuses. She clawed at my face to get me off of her, but I latched on to her neck with both hands and squeezed, causing her to gasp for air. She broke my hold and started swinging wildly. I turned animal then—all teeth and claws. I was a vicious beast attacking my prey, then rolling into the fetal position gasping when my prey kicked me in the stomach and knocked the breath out of me.

  She took two steps and fell to her knees, and the realization hit me. If I let her get away, I might never see Adrienne again. I crawled up behind her as she made another attempt to stand and looped an arm around her neck squeezing with all my might. The lights flickered on above me, and I heard voices. I didn’t release my grip, but rather tightened it when I felt a hand on my shoulder and heard my dad’s voice.

  “She’s no good to you if you kill her now,” he said softly while gently breaking my hold.

  Marta drew in a labored breath and began to fight again, but she was no match for my dad. He hoisted her to her feet like a rag doll and twisted an arm as he spun her around and jammed her face into the wall. “Where is she?” he asked between clenched teeth.

  Marta didn’t say a word but squealed as he pushed her arm to the point of breaking.

  “Blake, Iris has Colie on the phone. He’ll be here in a minute,” Mom said with a shaking voice.

  Dad pushed his weight into Marta, causing her to grunt in pain.

  “She’ll be alive and conscious when he gets here, but I’m not making any promises on broken bones. She can speak if she wants to, but I’m really looking forward to breaking her arm for what she did to that boy and Adrienne.”

  “Break it,” I said, my words coming out in a growl. “Make her suffer.” At that point, I didn’t care about anything but making that bitch talk. My mind conjured up things that could be done in the short time it would take Colie to arrive. I’d gone to some place dark, and even though a gentle voice in my mind reminded me that I was not cut from the same cloth as Marta, I still wanted to inflict pain.

  “I can take you to her,” Marta said in a muffled voice. Her cheek was pressed into the wall so firmly that she could barely move her lips.

  “Then do it,” Dad said, pulling her violently from the wall.

  “We should wait on Colie,” Mom said nervously.

  “He can catch up,” Dad said as he pushed Marta toward the door.

  “Is this place within walking distance?” I asked as Wanda helped me to my feet.

  “Yes,” Marta said with resignation in her voice.

  All this time, Adrienne had been held somewhere I could have walked to. It made me angrier.

  I turned to Jeff. “There are flashlights in the cabinet just to your right. Would you get them, please?”

  Jeff’s face was as angry as my dad’s. He was staring at Marta, his hands flexing in and out of fists.

  “Jeff,” I said a little louder and broke his concentration. Wanda had already gone to the cabinet and retrieved the flashlights.

  “Let’s go,” Dad said, ignoring Mom’s protests.

  With a firm grip on Marta, he pushed her in the direction that she indicated. We passed though the courtyard and down the trail to the bluff, but just before descending, we made a sharp left and continued through the foliage. Marta tried twice to wrench her way free, but Dad tightened his grip, causing her to whine in protest. We traveled the length of a football field and Marta instructed us to stop. Just to the left stood a cave that I’d never noticed before.

  “Is she in there?” I asked forcefully, and Marta nodded. There was no way I could navigate the narrow opening in my condition, but I intended to try.

  “Let me do it, Hay,” Jeff said with a touch on my neck. “I’ll go in and get her.”

  Tears of frustration poured from my eyes. “I want my face to be the first one she sees, and I need to see her.”

&nbs
p; “I know,” Jeff said kindly. “But let me do this for you.” He took a flashlight and crawled through the narrow opening. There was nothing I could do but watch.

  I turned to Marta. “Depending on what shape we find her in, you may take a fall over the bluff tonight.” She said nothing and averted her eyes. This made me angrier. I wanted a fight, an excuse to do the unthinkable.

  It seemed like hours before we heard movement in the cave. I could see the flicker of Jeff’s flashlight bouncing off the rock. “I need some help,” he called out.

  Many things crossed my mind as I crawled toward the mouth of the cave. We’d finally found her, but if Jeff needed help, that meant she wasn’t moving on her own. And what if he didn’t have her at all? Did Marta double-cross us?

  Jeff’s head popped through the opening. He was breathing hard. “Wanda, Iris, come help us.”

  The three of us squeezed together in the opening and quickly realized that we couldn’t maneuver. Iris turned to me. “Let me and Wanda kneel on either side of da opening, we’ll pass her to you and lift her legs when she clears da hole.”

  I scooted back out of the way and waited with my flashlight shining on the hole. A hand emerged and limply gripped at the rock. It was Adrienne’s. A cry tore from my throat upon seeing it. Iris took it, gave it a kiss first, then began tugging gently. Auburn hair wet and dirty spilled out over the rock; her beautiful face was hidden from me. She moaned as they began to tug at her shoulders.

  Iris was sobbing, and with my focus solely on Adrienne, I didn’t realize that I was, too, until Adrienne’s head came to rest on my lap, and my tears dripped down on her face. She looked up at me with half-lidded eyes and a faint smile graced her face before her eyes closed and her head lolled to the side.

  “We need more help,” I said as panic overtook me. “We’ve got to get her out of here now.”

  “I’m coming, Hay.” Jeff squeezed himself though the opening. “I can carry her.”

  “Why don’t you take over for me? I haven’t been crawling and exerting myself like you have,” Dad offered. “I can carry her back to the inn.”

  I heard Marta yelp as Jeff took her from Dad. I also heard Jeff say, “I’m not as merciful as he is. You will go over this cliff if you piss me off any more than I already am.” It made me smile.

  Dad lifted Adrienne into his arms and stood. Her head hung back over the crook of his elbow and her arms dangled, lifeless. Iris and Wanda pulled me to my feet and helped me get the crutches under my arms. We all moved quickly back to the inn with Dad in the lead.

  “Please don’t let that be the last smile I’ll ever get from her,” I prayed as we worked our way through the foliage. I could see flashlights moving all over the grounds. It was obvious then that Colie didn’t realize where we’d gone. I started screaming for help, and soon we were rushed by a group of people.

  In the harsh fluorescent light of the clinic, I studied Adrienne as Shelby worked on her. Myra cleaned the numerous cuts that were scattered over Adrienne’s body, as Shelby inserted an IV. Adrienne’s eyes were closed, but her brow was furrowed and she twitched and moaned as they moved around her.

  Iris and I were the only ones allowed in the room, and we stood huddled together in the corner, watching and worrying. Shelby explained that Adrienne was dehydrated and she would do what she could at the clinic, but she’d already called for a chopper to come in and take her to Nassau where she would be hospitalized. Iris and I were told we couldn’t make the trip with her. Colie was arranging for an emergency flight for us to join Adrienne and Shelby at the hospital. The thought of being away from her was excruciating.

  It seemed like a dream when her body was moved to a stretcher and rolled to the awaiting helicopter. I was only allowed a second to kiss her and stroke her face. The next thing I knew, I was being ushered into one of our vans, then eventually into a small plane as the sun rose.

  Dehydration, multiple cuts, some needing stitches, and a mild concussion was the diagnosis we were greeted with when we arrived at the hospital; we were over an hour behind. I sank into a chair in the waiting room of the emergency department. Iris and my mom were talking with the treating physician and Shelby. I felt numb from head to toe but relieved that Adrienne was back safe even if not completely sound.

  A few hours later, I was allowed to step into the room where Adrienne slept. Iris had already had her opportunity. I wanted to go last. I stood inside the door, at first just watching her and thanking God she was in a hospital bed and not the morgue. I walked over to the bed and leaned one of my crutches against it. Then I stroked the beautiful face that I loved as she slept.

  I moved down and clasped her hand gently in mine, bumping into the crutch, and it fell clattering onto the floor. I looked down and cursed it, and when I looked back at Adrienne, she was smiling at me.

  “I knew you were coming to find me,” she said in a raspy voice. “I could hear your thoughts, your prayers.”

  I kissed her as she drifted back off into sleep; her parched lips were still so sweet to me.

  Chapter Nineteen

  Adrienne spent three days in the hospital, and I stayed with her. I was resigned to sleeping on a cot after the nursing staff had repeatedly run me out of Adrienne’s bed. I couldn’t get close enough to her, and she felt the same way. She’d reach down and take hold of my shirt whenever we slept, just to be in contact.

  “I can’t wait to be home,” she grumbled. “How long does it take to be released? Can’t we just sneak out of here?” she asked as we waited for the discharge papers to be completed.

  “I can’t wait to get you home. It seems like years since the day you…” My voice trailed off. I was still having such a hard time with it all emotionally. We hadn’t talked much about her ordeal.

  “Hank told her he had money hidden at the inn the night before he died,” Adrienne began. “She saw it as her ticket off the island and a new life.”

  I could easily understand, after seeing how Marta was living, that the lure of money motivated what she did. But what she did to get that supposed fortune was inexcusable. Now she had nothing, not even her son.

  “She got really desperate toward the end,” Adrienne said. Her eyes held a faraway look as she remembered. “She was furious with me. She was so convinced that I knew where the money was hidden. My hands and feet were shackled and I couldn’t fight her. I remember her banging my head against the wall, and when I felt myself blacking out, I was relieved.”

  It was hard for me to hear it all, as I was certain that it was as hard for her to tell it. She had to get it out, and I was determined to listen, even though I wanted to choke the life out of Marta.

  “I’m just thankful that she was dumb enough to come back to the inn that night,” I said while stroking Adrienne’s hair.

  “She had to. She knew it would be a matter of time before we were found. She told me if she didn’t find the money that night, she was leaving the island. I knew she wasn’t going to let me go, even if she did find it. She had every intention of leaving me there to die.”

  “You heard that in her thoughts?”

  “No,” Adrienne shook her head. “I could never read her thoughts, not even when she came to the cave. I suspect she has a gift of her own, and she sensed mine. She was easily able to shut me out.”

  A nurse came into the room with a wheelchair and a stack of papers to be signed. After that was done, Adrienne was wheeled down the halls to where Colie and my dad were waiting.

  “A feast is being prepared back at the inn,” Colie said, then kissed Adrienne’s cheek. “The entire island is anticipating your arrival.”

  Dad leaned down and gave Adrienne a kiss, as well, then pulled me in for a hug. “Jeff’s peeling potatoes and he’s not happy about it.” We laughed at Jeff’s expense.

  The four of us piled into a cab. Adrienne rested her head on my shoulder while Dad, Colie, and the cab driver talked baseball. I stared out the window, assimilating all the information I’d been given
over the past three days. When Colie took Adrienne’s statement, she filled in a lot of missing pieces.

  On the day Adrienne disappeared, Marta approached her with a gun and forced to her to go along quietly. Adrienne dropped the bracelet I’d given her, hoping we’d deduce something was wrong. She took Adrienne to the cave where she shackled her hands and feet, then tied them together. Adrienne wasn’t even able to sit up, much less attempt an escape when Marta left her alone.

  Marta told Adrienne that she and Hank had been seeing each other off and on for over a year. She was quick to point out that Hank had no compassion or love for her, and she didn’t particularly care for him, either. She wanted the money he bragged about when he was drunk. He never did tell her where it was hidden, but she knew it was at the inn. After Hank died, rumors circulated that he’d buried it, hidden it in walls, and all sorts of obscure places, and Marta felt she deserved it.

  At first, she tried sneaking onto the property at night, but it was difficult since we never kept regular hours and were often out late. One night while spending time in a local bar, she overheard a couple of our employees talking about Hank’s death and how they feared his angry spirit. The idea of scaring the staff off was born then. Less staff meant more time for her to search. She used Hank’s pass key to enter the cottages, and as for the strange noises, none of us were able to figure that out.

  When her plan to scare away the staff proved ineffective, she turned her attention to us, hoping perhaps we’d be frightened off, so she could move freely. That didn’t work, either, but it did create a distraction so she could continue her hunt for the money. Taking a job at the inn also afforded her opportunities, but even that took too much of her time. As a last resort, she snatched Adrienne.

  When we arrived back at the inn, it was obvious we were going to have one hell of a party. Extra tables were brought into the bar and were covered with bright tablecloths. Iris, staff members, and the rest of my family were busy with the preparations, but stopped the minute we pulled up.