by PJ Fernor
They hugged.
“It’s not nearly enough,” Miss Kesslier said.
Her eyes became misty as she looked at me.
My throat tightened.
Poor Miss Kesslier thought I was going to be so mad at her. She feared I was going to cut her out of our lives. I knew she was special to us but I didn’t realize just how special we were to her. In so many ways we were the only family she had.
I told her over and over she had done nothing wrong.
Jerry was a master manipulator and worked all of us over.
It didn’t matter though.
Lo was alive, safe, and now home.
Right where she belonged.
She didn’t remember much of being in Jerry’s house and the cage. Panic had taken over her thoughts and shortly after that was when he began to release the chemicals into the house.
The house was under a name that wasn’t his.
My best guess was it was another fake name.
Now it was taped off and we had security guarding the place because as the news broke of the girls, the cages and Jerry, it became a media hotspot. Everyone wanted to run a story about the secret house and the hidden horrors inside.
Then came the people who thrived on those kinds of stories. Who wanted to steal something from the house. People who showed up to take a scoop of dirt from the front yard just to say they had a piece of crime history.
For me, I stayed far away from it.
The house meant nothing to me. I already knew nothing in that house would help us find Jerry or find The One.
Miss Kesslier wiped her eyes before she stepped back from Lo.
Lo snuck a cookie, then a second.
She looked at me and smiled.
“They’re your cookies,” I said. “Take them all.”
“Don’t tempt me,” Lo said.
“I just did,” I said.
Lo lifted the tray and stuck her tongue out at me.
“Hey,” I said. “Did you talk to Trevor?”
“Yes.”
“How is he?”
“He’s okay. Worried about me. He wants to see me.”
“I know.”
“Don’t worry, I won’t sneak out of any windows,” Lo said.
“It would be hard to do that,” I said. “It’s a big drop.”
“Not if you get the right angle,” Lo said. “I’ve thought about it.”
“That’s just what I need to hear right now,” I said.
Lo smiled. “Then let me see Trevor.”
I took a deep breath. “Enjoy your cookies.”
Lo strutted away and I looked at Miss Kesslier.
“She’s fierce,” she said.
“I know. Reminds me of Alex.”
“And yourself,” Miss Kesslier said.
“Yeah.”
“So what are you going to do about the boyfriend?”
“Boyfriend,” I groaned. “I’m not sure. Maybe he’s not as bad as I thought. He needs to keep his act calm though. I know his secrets now. There’s no reason to act like a fool.”
“Well, invite him over and tell him that,” Miss Kesslier said.
“Soon,” I said. “I’m still catching my breath here.”
“I know you are,” she said. She touched my arm. “You’re going an amazing job. Just keep going.”
There was another knock at the door.
“Come in,” I called out, not even sure who I was inviting in.
The door opened and Ben stepped into the apartment.
“Busy?” he asked.
“For you, never,” Miss Kesslier said.
Ben laughed.
“I think he meant me,” I said.
“Oh, right,” she said. “Let me get out of here then.”
Miss Kesslier walked to the door.
She made sure to touch Ben’s arm.
I shook my head.
“How are things here?” Ben asked.
“Getting there. Back to normal.”
“I wanted to come to talk to you. Garrison figured out who was trashing the porches.”
“Oh yeah?”
Ben nodded. “Group of teenagers.”
“Trevor?” I asked.
“No,” Ben said. “He had nothing to do with it. They were from over in Lake Ground.”
“Ah,” I said. “So a rival thing?”
“I don’t know. That, or just looking to be annoying.”
“Well, they succeeded.”
“Garrison wanted to know what the plan is.”
I thought for a second. “Just scare them and send them on their way.”
“That’s it?” Ben asked.
“They’re kids, Ben. Teenagers are kids too. I don’t care what anyone says. I’m not going to mess up their futures over this. If it happens again, then we do something. Just let them be kids. Smash some pumpkins. Be rebels. Get candy on Halloween. You know?”
“I agree,” he said.
“Want a drink?”
“Sure,” he said.
We walked to the kitchen and before I could open the fridge, Ben closed in on me.
He touched my hand and touched my face with his other hand.
“Allie,” he whispered.
“Hey,” I said.
“I… I need you to know…”
There was yet another knock at the door.
“What is going on here today?” I asked.
“Go get that,” he said. “I’ll get a drink and find my words.”
I left the kitchen and hurried to the door.
“This better be good, whoever it is,” I said.
I opened the door and let out a gasp.
“Hey.”
It was Steph-slash-Leslie.
Chapter Seventy-Nine
“I just need you to do one thing for me,” she said.
I stepped into the hallway and shut the door.
“Where is he?” I asked.
“Who?”
“Jerry. Gerard. Whatever you call him.”
“Mr. G,” she said. “That’s what he made us call him. I’m not here about him. I don’t know where he is. Please…”
“Do you realize what you did to me and my family?”
“I know,” she said as her eyes filled with tears. “If I didn’t listen to him, he would have killed me. Or sold me. Like he did the others.”
I curled my lip.
But she was just a kid.
Sixteen.
Just like Lo.
“You’re in a world of trouble,” I said.
“I know. That’s why I’m here. I… I need to get something and then I’ll go away forever.”
“What?”
“You saw me,” she said. “I snuck out of the house one night and came looking for something. And you saw me. You chased me…”
I took a deep breath. “You’re the girl.”
“Yes,” she said. “I’m the girl. I found a way to sneak out and be free.”
“You fell asleep in that basement, didn’t you?”
“Yes,” she said. “I didn’t mean to. I didn’t mean for her to get killed. That is all my fault…”
“What do you want from me right now?”
“My bracelet.”
“Your bracelet?”
“I remember… before I was kidnapped… before he took me… I had a best friend. Jane. She lived around here. And one summer we had matching bracelets. We hung out the entire summer together. Then my mother ended up in jail. And I was going to be sent away. So I buried my bracelet in Jane’s backyard. I promised her I would come back and we would be friends again.”
My mind and heart raced.
I reached back and opened the apartment door.
“Hey, Ben,” I yelled.
“Yeah?”
“I need to go for a quick ride. Just tell Lo I’ll be right back.”
“Okay,” he yelled. “Everything okay?”
“Yeah,” I said.
I shut the door.
“
Let’s go for a ride then,” I said.
I walked her out to my car and wasn’t exactly sure what I was doing or why.
I started the car and looked at her.
“Who are you?” I asked.
“My real name is Leslie. Mr. G renamed me Lea. He renames all the girls. He breaks them down… mentally… then he rebuilds them. New names. I was told to tell Lo my name was Steph. He told me you and Lo were coming to live with us. That we were going to become a family. I thought it was going to be a good thing. He was going to have a wife. You. I was going to have a sister. Lo. It was going to work out.” Leslie looked down and played with her hands. “I know it sounds crazy…”
“Why did he not sell you?” I asked.
“I don’t know,” she said. “He always said I was his special one. He thought of me as his daughter or something. He never touched me or hurt me. I helped with the girls. I tried to take care of them. I snuck them food and drinks. I became friends with a few. I’m not a monster…”
I started to drive.
I felt a little crazy for doing what I was doing.
But I wanted the story.
I needed to know everything possible about Jerry. Gerard. Mr. G.
“Tell me about The One,” I said.
Leslie looked at me. “No.”
“Tell me.”
“He’s… powerful. He’s rich. He drives a large, black SUV.”
“What does he look like?”
“He’s always dressed in black,” she said. “He never showed his entire face to me. His voice is deep. Scary. He has bodyguards with him all the time. He makes us tell him… We’re all his. We have to keep saying it near him.”
“What else, Leslie?” I asked.
“Turn here,” she said.
I turned.
“Mr. G would make me dress up nice to see him,” she said. “And then it would be fast… from the back of Mr. G’s SUV to The One’s. Then they were gone. Driven somewhere. Flown somewhere. I don’t know.”
“You don’t know anything else?” I asked.
“I swear on my life, I don’t. Mr. G said he was getting me a family. That’s why I did what I did. He explained that you and Lo were broken and needed help. I believed him. I’m sorry I believed him.”
I gritted my teeth. “Where am I going, Leslie?”
“Next street, turn,” she said.
When I turned, she pointed to a white house.
“There it is,” she said. “I can’t believe it…”
She started to cry.
“Let’s go,” I said.
I got out of the car and Leslie came with me.
I half thought about handcuffing her wrist to mine.
We walked into the backyard of the house and Leslie pointed to a twisted and hunched over apple tree.
She ran to the roots and fell to her knees and started to dig.
“I couldn’t find this place in the dark,” she said. “I probably walked by it ten times.”
She let out a cry when she found the bracelet.
It was a metal bracelet that had the word FRIENDS on it.
Which meant Jane had the one with BEST on it.
Leslie stood up and clutched the bracelet to her chest.
“I remember it all,” she said. “How alone I always was. Scared all the time. And then one night, Mr. G stopped and asked me for directions. He said he couldn’t hear me so I walked closer to his car. Then he grabbed me. He kidnapped me. He locked me in a cage for days. He told me my family was dead. And slowly, he began to trust me. He let me out of the cage. He made me feel okay. He was all I had…”
I stepped toward Leslie and put my arm around her.
She cried and fell into my chest.
I hugged her and reached for my phone.
I blinked fast, feeling so many emotions for this teenager.
“Leslie, you know what I have to do now, right?” I asked.
“Yes,” she said. “It’s okay. I won’t do anything stupid. Whatever happens now… at least I have my bracelet back…”
She cried again and I called Laura.
I wasn’t sure what Leslie’s fate would be…
But she would forever be a piece of the puzzle to find Jerry and find The One.
Chapter Eighty
“Are you sure you’re okay?” I asked Lo for hundredth time.
“I’m fine right here,” she said. “I’m not going anywhere. I promise.”
“Trevor is allowed over tonight,” I said. “Okay? Tonight. Not today.”
“I understand,” she said. “I have tons of stuff to get caught up on here. I’ll be busy all day. And… I already know you’re going to have Miss Kesslier casually come over.”
“Casually?” I asked.
Lo smiled. “She tries to act like she’s doing something, but I know she’s checking on me. I appreciate it. From both of you. Okay?”
“Okay,” I said. “I’ll be texting you. You better answer.”
“You know, if I get bothered the entire day, I won’t get any work done,” Lo said.
“Attitude.”
“Truth.”
I leaned down and kissed the top of Lo’s head. “I love you, Lo.”
“Love you too, Allie,” she said.
I stared at her for a few seconds as she looked down to her schoolwork.
We were stuck between a rock and a hard place.
What she had just lived through was traumatic. She needed to talk to somebody to work through it. Yet at the same time, the person who caused that trauma was her therapist. The thought of finding someone new and trusting that person seemed so daunting. And it seemed too soon.
All I could do for the moment was rely on my gut instincts and Miss Kesslier.
Eventually Lo would have to address what happened.
When that time came, I would find someone both of us could trust. I would sit with her at the appointments for a few times. And whoever that therapist was, they were going to get a full background check from me. I felt bad for whoever it was.
That wasn’t right now.
Right now, Lo was content catching up on her work, drinking coffee, waiting for Miss Kesslier to casually come over.
I didn’t make it two steps from the table when the door opened.
“Breakfast time,” Miss Kesslier announced.
“Cinnamon rolls again?” Lo asked.
“Are you sick of them?”
“Never,” Lo said. “Although I probably should start running or something. I don’t want to gain weight.”
“Stop that talk,” I said. “You’re perfect, Lo.”
“I know,” she said.
“Attitude,” I said again.
She stuck her tongue out at me.
“I’m out the door,” I said to Miss Kesslier.
“Take one with you,” she said. “Please. Oh. Take one for Ben. Let me kiss it first.”
“You know, you’re going to end up in trouble with that kind of talk,” I said.
“So what? Is Ben going to arrest me?”
Miss Kesslier wiggled her eyebrows.
“You know, I can hear you,” Lo called out.
I laughed.
I took a cinnamon roll and left for another day of work.
Work.
I wasn’t even sure what work looked like.
Right now we were on a bit of a damage control tour to let everyone in town know that Halloween was still going to happen.
I wasn’t sure how I felt about it with Jerry still out there, but if Laura felt safe, then I would trust her judgment.
We were going to make sure all our officers were patrolling on Halloween night so that everyone could have a sense of normalcy and enjoy themselves.
When I arrived at the station, I was mid-bite in the cinnamon roll when Ben saw me and smiled.
My face turned a little red as I hurried to swallow the bite down.
“I guess the breakfast sandwich I got you isn’t needed,” he said.
; “This is a snack,” I said.
“Right,” Ben said. “Well, finish that because we’ve been requested to appear in Laura’s office.”
“When?”
“Right now,” he said.
“Shoot,” I said.
I hurried to my office and put my bag down and ditched the last few bites of the cinnamon roll. I wipe my hands and took a breath and followed Ben all the way to Laura’s office on the second floor.
He knocked on the door and opened it.
Laura stood up and waved us in.
“Grab a coffee,” she said.
“I’m good, thanks,” I said.
“Same,” Ben said.
“I figured it would be easier to talk to you both at once,” Laura said.
“About?”
“Come over here,” she said. “Sit down.”
“I don’t like sitting down for news,” I said.
“Stubborn,” Laura said.
“All the time,” Ben said with a wink.
“Well… Jerry was found,” Laura said.
“What?” I asked.
“Are you serious?” Ben asked.
Laura nodded. “He was found early this morning…”
She frowned.
“Found as in…”
“Jerry’s dead,” Laura said.
I lowered my head and sighed.
“We’re still getting all the details,” Laura said. “It wasn’t all that far from here. His body was found on the side of the road. A single gunshot to the head. A gun in his hand.”
“Suicide?” Ben asked.
“Not sure yet,” Laura said.
“No way it was suicide,” I said.
“You might be right,” Laura said. “That’s not all…”
I looked at Laura. “What?”
“There was a note in his other hand.”
“What did it say?”
“The One says… WE’RE ALL HIS…”
I shivered and looked at Ben.
This whole thing was very far from being over.
Epilogue
She looks at her watch.
She smiles.
She’s on pace for a record run.
Which means nothing in life. Nobody is waiting at the end of this run with a medal or trophy. Nobody is going to give her a raise or tell her tomorrow night’s winning lottery numbers.
But personally, it’s her against herself.
That’s what makes running so special.
