“You’re a butthead.”
“You’ve told me,” Jack said, nonplussed. “If you’re a good girl, I’ll let you make the coffee.”
“Oh, wow, you’re going to let me make the coffee in my own house? Thank you so much.”
“I said you could make it if you were a good girl,” Jack said. “I’m still waiting for that to happen.”
“BREAKFAST is served,” Jack said, sliding plates in front of Kelly and Ivy with a flourish.
“This actually looks good,” Ivy said, grudgingly studying her plate and fluffing the omelet with her fork. “How did you learn to cook?”
“My mother taught me.”
As Ivy and Kelly dug into their breakfasts, Jack grabbed his own plate and mug from the counter and settled between them. Everyone ate in silence for a few moments, but Jack had a direction for their morning conversation, and he was going to head that way right from the start.
“It’s time you told us what’s going on, Kelly.”
Ivy froze, her fork halfway to her mouth. She shifted her eyes to Kelly and found the teenager’s face turning from happy to sad in record time. “Jack,” she warned.
Jack ignored her. “I know you don’t want to talk about this Kelly. I know you’re scared. It’s obvious you have a right to be. We need to know what’s going on if you want us to help you.”
“I don’t know what you’re talking about,” Kelly replied evasively.
“Don’t do that,” Jack said, fighting to keep his anger in check. “Ivy almost died trying to protect you last night. You owe us the truth.”
“I haven’t lied.” Kelly refused to meet Jack’s serious eyes.
“You haven’t told us the truth either,” Jack said, pinching the bridge of his nose. “I’m not trying to rush you. Ivy wants you to feel comfortable, and I applaud her for it. We need to know what’s going on, though. Last night was proof that you’re in danger.”
“I’m not talking about this,” Kelly said, dropping her fork on her plate and getting to her feet.
“Yes, you are,” Jack said. “Sit down.”
“No.” It was the first time Kelly had stood up to any of them.
“Kelly, I want to keep you safe,” Jack said. “I need your help to do it. I won’t risk Ivy’s life because you’re too scared to tell us what’s going on. You need to have faith in us. We’re going out of our way to help you. Hiding whatever happened to you isn’t helping anyone. In fact, it’s hurting you … and it hurt Ivy pretty badly last night.”
“That’s pretty rich coming from you,” Kelly said, lifting her chin as she defiantly met Jack’s studied gaze. “Ivy said you were mad at her the other day because she invaded your privacy. Something tells me it has something to do with those scars on your chest. Do you want to tell me how you got those?”
“I … we’re not talking about me,” Jack replied, caught off guard by her vehemence. “I’m not the one in danger here. You’re the one in danger.”
“Butt out,” Kelly said. “I don’t want to talk about it. It’s none of your business.”
“Kelly, this can’t go on forever,” Jack said. “This isn’t a game. I won’t just sit idly by and watch you get hurt. I won’t risk Ivy.”
“Because you love her?”
Jack clenched his jaw, frustrated. “Because if something happens to her – if something happens to you – I won’t be able to live with it.”
“Nothing is going to happen to me,” Kelly said. “Ivy is here to protect me.”
“She can’t save you if you don’t tell us what we’re fighting,” Jack argued.
“Ivy can do anything,” Kelly said. “I have faith.” She moved away from the table. “I’m going to take a shower. Are we working in the greenhouse again today?”
Ivy nodded wordlessly, flabbergasted by Kelly’s aggressive response. Jack opened his mouth to call Kelly back, but Ivy silenced him with a hand on his arm. Once Kelly disappeared down the hallway, and she was sure she’d given the girl ample time to get into the shower, Ivy turned her full attention to Jack.
“Wow.”
“That’s all you have to say?” Jack asked. “Why did you let her just walk away like that?”
“She obviously wasn’t going to talk to you, Jack. You have to give her some space. She’s not ready to tell us what happened to her.”
“Ivy, this isn’t a game,” Jack said. “Kelly is in real danger. Someone wants her. We don’t know if it’s because of something she knows, or something she’s done, but she’s clearly on someone’s radar.”
“I know that,” Ivy said, her voice low. “She’s just … scared. Give me a little more time.”
“No.”
“No?”
“I almost lost you last night,” Jack said. “You almost died on me. I won’t just sit back and let that happen again.”
Ivy opened her mouth, her jaw working, but no sound coming out.
“Don’t bother saying anything,” Jack said. “I know what I said. I’m not taking it back. I don’t care how ridiculous it sounds. I don’t care how much you’re going to fight me on this. I won’t let anything happen to you. I … can’t.”
Ivy’s heart warmed at the admission even has her anger inflated. “Jack, I’m not asking you to go against what you know to be right. I’m just asking for a little more time. Just … a little. Please.”
She was so earnest. Her face, bare of makeup and pale after a long night, was enough to break him. “Then we have to come to an understanding,” Jack said. “I’m staying here indefinitely. I won’t risk you again.”
“If I agree to this, will you calm down?”
“If you agree to this, I’ll try to keep myself from shaking her until answers start falling out like she’s a piñata,” Jack replied. “I can’t promise more than that. Not right now, at least.”
“Okay,” Ivy said. “You can stay here.”
“And you’re going to text me once an hour during the day so I know you’re safe,” Jack added.
Ivy gritted her teeth. “Fine.”
“And you’re going to hug me when I come back here after work today,” Jack said.
“What?”
“Oh, no, I’m in the power position now, honey. You’re going to hug me when I get back here tonight.”
“Why?”
Jack’s smile was cheeky. “Because I like it when you hug me.”
Sadly, Ivy liked it, too. “Fine. Are you happy now?”
“I’m as happy as I’m going to get until this is solved,” Jack said, turning his attention back to his breakfast. “Are you happy?”
“I have no idea what I am,” Ivy admitted.
“Eat your breakfast.”
“Don’t tell me what to do.”
“Eat your breakfast or I’m going to sit on your chest and feed you myself,” Jack said.
“You’re going to be a real pain the ass while you’re staying here, aren’t you?”
“You have no idea.”
Fifteen
“How was Ivy this morning?” Brian asked Jack a few hours later, his eyes never moving from the road. The men were on their way back to Kelly’s hometown, intent on talking to any and all of her friends they could find.
“She was sore.”
“That’s not what I meant.”
“She’s okay,” Jack said. “She’s tough.”
“She’s definitely tough,” Brian said. “Did she sleep all right? Did she wake up with any nightmares?”
“Not that I know of.” There was no way Jack was going to admit he’d wrapped his tall frame around Ivy’s slighter one and held her on the couch all night. That was just begging for trouble. Now that he thought about it, Jack realized the previous evening was the first one he hadn’t woken up from his own nightmare in … well … he couldn’t remember the last time. He wasn’t fooling himself that Ivy’s presence wasn’t the key change in that scenario.
“How was Kelly this morning?” Brian asked, opting to change the subject gi
ven Jack’s replies.
“Belligerent.”
“Do you want to expand on that?”
Jack told Brian about the breakfast exchange. When he was done, the older police officer was stunned. “I’m surprised she was so aggressive with you,” he said. “That must mean she’s comfortable with you.”
“I’m not sure that was it,” Jack said. “It wasn’t that she felt so safe with me she knew I’d never hurt her. It was more like she decided she wasn’t going to tell me the truth no matter what, and if I beat her to get answers, she was willing to put up with it.”
“That’s kind of … chilling.”
“Her face was odd,” Jack admitted. “It was like she was prepared for something awful to happen, and yet even the threat of that wasn’t enough to get her to tell the truth.”
“What do you think she’s hiding?”
“Something really bad,” Jack said.
“It’s summer break,” Brian said, turning his attention back to the winding road in front of him. “Where do you want to look for high school kids?”
“Go to the school.”
“I just told you it was summer break,” Brian reminded him.
“It’s also a small town,” Jack said. “Most schools have basketball courts. We should be able to find some teenage boys there to start with. They’ll direct us where to go after that.”
“I take it you’ve done this before.”
“Not exactly this,” Jack clarified. “Teenagers are the same everywhere, though.”
“Okay,” Brian said. “I know where the high school is. We’ll start there.”
“DO you know Kelly Sisto?” Jack asked, trying to remain casual as the teenage boys eyed him suspiciously. He remembered what it was like to be their age. Even if you weren’t doing anything wrong, the arrival of police officers was still cause for concern.
“I know her.” The boy, who identified himself as Kevin, was standoffish. “What did she do?”
“She didn’t do anything,” Jack said. “She was … injured ... over in Shadow Lake the other day. We’re trying to find out who hurt her.”
“Why don’t you just ask her?” another boy, this one named Mitch, asked.
“She’s having some issues right now,” Jack said honestly. “She’s scared to tell us what happened to her. That’s why we’re here.”
“We didn’t do anything to her,” Kevin said quickly.
“I know that,” Jack said. “We don’t think you did. I promise. We’re just trying to find out who she hung around with.”
“Did she have any good friends?” Brian asked.
“She was kind of a loner,” Mitch said. “She had a few friends, but I wouldn’t really call them close friends. I think she was embarrassed because of her home situation.”
“What do you know about that?” Jack asked.
“I know that her foster parents never came to school conferences, or games, or parents’ night. I can’t ever remember seeing her with them other than once or twice at the grocery store. It was more like she didn’t have parents.”
“I think she was kind of on her own,” Kevin said.
“To your knowledge, did she ever get in any trouble?”
“No,” Kevin said. “She was one of those girls who sat at the end of the bleachers all by herself during a game. She never even watched it. She always had her nose stuck in a book.”
“Did she have any boyfriends?” Brian asked, not missing the quick look Mitch and Kevin exchanged.
“I never saw her with anyone,” Mitch replied carefully.
“You heard rumors, though, didn’t you?” Jack pressed.
“Some of the girls spread rumors about her,” Kevin said. “I’m not sure if they were true or not.”
“We’re not looking to shoot the messenger.”
“Kayla Clayvin told a few people that Kelly supposedly had an older boyfriend and they were … doing it.”
“How old?” Jack asked.
“Old enough that she got called into the guidance counselor’s office to talk about it,” Kevin said. “I have no idea what happened in there, but whatever it was, Kelly had to spend a lot of time in the office.”
“And you have no idea who this supposed boyfriend was?” Jack asked.
“None, man,” Mitch said. “She was a total loner. She never talked to us.”
“Do you think she was shy, or do you think something else was going on?” Brian asked.
“I think that Kelly was just marking time,” Mitch said. “Once she turned eighteen, she knew she was going to be turned out on the street. That’s the way the system works. I heard her talking about it one day.
“She knew she wasn’t going to college, and she knew her grades didn’t matter, so she only kept them up to make sure her foster parents didn’t come down on her,” he continued. “She was making plans to find a restaurant job over the summer because she pretty much figured that was her future.”
The statement made Jack inexplicably sad. “Tell me about this guidance counselor. What’s his name?”
“Mr. Thorpe.”
“Does he have a first name?” Jack asked.
“Oh, yeah, Gil.”
“I don’t suppose you know where he lives, do you?” Brian asked.
Mitch shrugged. “He lives on the same street as my grandparents.”
Jack and Brian exchanged a look. They both knew where their next stop would be.
GIL THORPE was in his late thirties, and he dressed like he’d just stepped off of the pages of a J.Crew catalog. His khakis were pressed and pristine. His loafers had actual pennies in them. His polo shirt looked like it hadn’t gone through the wash yet. He clearly took pride in his appearance, even though there was nothing about him that stood out.
He also seemed genuinely shocked to hear about Kelly’s situation.
“I don’t know what to say,” he said, handing Jack and Brian bottles of water as he settled on the couch across from them. “I had no idea Kelly was even missing, let alone … any of that.”
“That doesn’t surprise me,” Jack said. “Her foster parents didn’t know she was missing until we told them either.”
“Well, I wish I could say that was out of character for them, but the Gideons are … limited … in the way they deal with Kelly,” Gil said. “When Kelly first started having trouble, I thought they would be helpful in my efforts to rein her in. I was wrong.”
“What kind of trouble are we talking about?” Brian asked.
“I want to start by saying that I think Kelly is a gifted student,” Gil said. “She’s been overlooked her whole life because no one took the time to realize how smart she is. Now, I’m not casting aspersions on the foster care system. I know caseworkers are busy, and I know it’s impossible for them to take special interest in any one child.
“Kelly was still overlooked,” he said. “Had someone spent more time with her when she was younger, she might have been put in the gifted and talented classes, and her future might be vastly different.”
“So, you’re saying she’s smart,” Jack said.
“She’s very smart,” Gil said. “She reads faster than just about any student I’ve ever encountered, and she truly loves books. She does lag a little in science and math, but I think it’s because she doesn’t apply herself. She’s learned she doesn’t have to excel at anything because no one cares enough to make her. She does just enough to get by, and she puts minimal effort in to do that.”
“What do you know about her friends?” Brian asked.
“As far as I can tell, she doesn’t have any,” Gil said. “I’m not going to pretend I watch her in the lunchroom or anything, but Kelly is one of those kids who isolates herself. I think she’s embarrassed by her circumstances so she doesn’t want anyone to get close enough to ask about them.”
“Her foster parents insinuated she had friends,” Jack said.
“You also said her foster parents had no idea where she was spending her nights or where s
he was from day to day,” Gil said. “I would be surprised if those people even knew her middle name. Well, scratch that, if her middle name appeared on the checks from the state, then they might’ve known it.”
Jack grimaced. “What about boyfriends? The boys on the basketball court said there was a rumor she was dating an older boy.”
“That’s the first I’m hearing about that,” Gil said.
“They said that’s why she was called to your office for meetings,” Brian said.
Gil chuckled. “I’m sure someone made that up just so the other kids would have something to gossip about,” he said. “Kelly was called into my office for regular meetings for … behavioral issues.”
“Like?”
“I’m not sure how much I should tell you,” Gil admitted. “I’m not a licensed therapist, but my sessions with these kids are supposed to be private.”
“We need information,” Jack said. “Kelly is in danger.”
“I guess that trumps everything else,” Gil said, rubbing his chin thoughtfully. “Kelly was brought to my attention because two different teachers said she was lying. At first they were small lies about why she didn’t finish her homework … stuff like her computer died, or one of her foster siblings spilled milk on it. Then she started telling bigger lies.”
“Can you give us some examples?” Brian asked.
“Sure,” Gil said. “She told the lunch lady that her foster parents died and she was raising her foster siblings on her own. She told the librarian that aliens were abducting her from her bed at night so they could do experiments on her. She told the custodian that she was being stalked by a government agency who implanted a chip in her brain.”
Jack was floored. She’d never mentioned any of those things to him, and he was fairly certain Max and Ivy would’ve told him if she’d said anything of the sort to them. “Why do you think she did that?”
“I think she’s starved for attention,” Gil said. “It’s not uncommon with kids in similar circumstances. When they feel everyone has forgotten them, they go out of their way to make sure someone will remember them – even if it’s because they lie.”
“How were you treating Kelly?”
Wicked Dreams Page 11
