Chapter 22 #2
“So, my patient mentioned something similar. That he’d gone silent, and it wasn’t until the dispatcher reached out on the radio that he turned up again.” She sat back on her heels and thought about it. “But then you have to ask whether he fainted or was hit over the head.”
“Yes, that occurred to me too,” he acknowledged.
“Anyway, I will go back there tomorrow because I did feel that he hesitated and got stressed out when I pointed out how it felt like he was hiding something and how he was afraid of something or of something being found out. That could just be the fact that he had passed out, particularly because it’s not in the file.
Anyway, that’s tomorrow. What about you? What’s your tomorrow like?”
“Yeah, well, it’s more of the same for me tomorrow,” she grumbled.
“Then we’re heading into the weekend, so that’ll be lots of soccer practice, softball practice, and a couple games,” she shared, with a headshake.
“Didn’t use to bother me, but right now it’s not on my list of favorite things to do—especially since I’m the designated driver but I’m not allowed to watch the games. ”
“Of course not,” he noted. “Have you thought about how you will handle this if there isn’t any attempt on their mother’s part?”
“No,” she said. “I have no idea because, if there isn’t an attempt, and nothing happens, I think the kids will be incredibly depressed.
I have no idea how that reaction will set in, not to mention the broken-trust factors.
At some point hopefully they will look at themselves in terms of what they were planning and how that would impact other people.
According to what they told me, they were only really being nice to me because their mother was coming back. ”
“And do you believe that?”
“I don’t know.” She just shook her head.
“I wouldn’t have thought so, and I wouldn’t have thought they were good-enough actors to sustain these roles, but what do I know at this point in time?
I’ve been in their lives since they were little.
I didn’t hear about any of this until it was already well into the planning stage.
I also haven’t been able to find the book, and that’s something that we do still need to get. ”
“It’s probably in his backpack then. Did you check that?”
“No, I haven’t had a chance.” She snorted. “On the other hand, the last I saw of that, it was on the kitchen bench because he came in looking for food and then left.”
“You may want to go see.”
She nodded and added, “Maybe you should come with me.”
“You’re really that scared?”
“No, but you are a bit of a buffer.”
“Right,” he agreed. “I haven’t eaten yet, so why don’t we do a quick walk-in, see if it’s there, and then we can head back over to my place—if you want—and have a coffee.”
“I won’t say no to that,” she replied, “because it feels very much as if I’m a stranger in my own home.”
“Understood,” he whispered, with a commiserating glance. “You know intellectually that it’s not your fault, yet somehow”—he sent her that boyish grin of his—“somehow you feel responsible, and you don’t quite know what to do about it.”
“Nothing. I do nothing,” she stated firmly, standing now, brushing the dirt off her hands. “I’m the one who bought this stupid place. I listened to the real estate agent, and I didn’t even question why it was so cheap. I only found out later it was owned by a member of Tabitha’s family.”
They walked into Devon’s kitchen, hearing no sounds from upstairs or downstairs. He looked around and asked, “It’s ghosty-like in here, isn’t it?”
“Yeah, thanks for that,” she muttered.
He winced. “I didn’t mean it that way.”
“Yet it’s hard to see it any other way, with just how silent and ghoulish it is in here,” she conceded. “I don’t know if they talk to each other.”
They headed into the kitchen, and, sure enough, there was the backpack. He looked over at her, and she nodded. He opened it and took out a small book.
Knowing that chances were good that Toby would be coming down soon and yelling and screaming at them if caught looking at his stuff, Camden quickly took photos of everything inside. “The same stuff we found before on their walls and under the bed.”
She nodded. “Which will be Tabitha’s attempt at instructions apparently,” she guessed.
He winced, then nodded. “Maybe.” By the time he was done, he put it back in the backpack and added, “I’ll head over and get some dinner. Feel free to pop on by after a bit if you want.”
“I’ll step out on the deck and see how you’re doing with the whole dinner thing,” she shared. “Given what’s happening out back, I’ve been trying to avoid it.”
“In what way?” he asked.
She winced and explained, “Honestly, it looks as if a full-on party is going on out there.”
He studied her for a moment and then got up, walked to the kitchen window, and stared. “Good God.”
“Yeah, I know. So, I don’t know what they’re doing or how they even know to gather here.
But I swear to God that somehow these kids, or whoever, have found a way to keep bringing in more and more of them.
I just feel it’s building, as if they’re waiting for that tipping point of energy, and that’s when it will all happen. ”
He glanced at her, and she shrugged, pulling back loose hair.
“And don’t ask because I have no idea what it is.
Only that we both suspect we already know,” she noted, with a faint look in his direction.
“So, if I don’t show up here one day, or if I’m acting very strange and weird, you might know why. ”
“So, give me a code word,” he suggested, “in case something does happen.”
“What kind of a code word?”
He thought about it for a moment. “Give me something from your childhood that Tabitha won’t know.”
She stared at him for a long moment and frowned. “Now you’re really freaking me out.”
“If something does happen, we have to get you back,” he stated. “That is a given. Just because she might do something doesn’t mean it’s permanent.”
“Right,” she muttered, gazing at him with hope. “That’s another thought, isn’t it?”
“It is. Stefan deals with all kinds of crazy cases. This would be just another one. Now,” he added, “what could you possibly tell me that Tabitha would not know, keeping in mind that you have known her for a very long time?”
“Right.” She thought about it for a long moment and suggested, “My mother’s name.” He stared at her, and she added, “She wouldn’t have any idea.” Then she frowned, “Maybe,” she added reluctantly. “She already knows things like my favorite color and all that stuff.”
“Okay. What about a pet when you were growing up?”
She shook her head. “No, I was adopted. I was in foster care for a long time, and then I was adopted. I stayed and moved around in lots of places.”
“Were any of the foster care families decent?”
She nodded. “A couple were. Some weren’t.” Her voice hardened at that.
He sighed. “Of course. That’s how life is, isn’t it? One step forward and about seventy-two backward.”
She burst out laughing at that. Suddenly she got the feeling that she was being watched, listened to, or something. She pointed out to the back steps, and the two of them went outside.
Lowering his voice, he asked, “What’s the matter?”
“I felt as if she was listening.”
“She?”
“Yes, she,” she repeated, as she scrubbed her face. “Dear God, I sound like I’m losing it.”
“No. That’s not the case. But, because of that, text me something that I’ll know she won’t answer.”
“Chances are she will beguile you into thinking that it’s her regardless because who’ll know?”
“That’s why I want something, and I want it today. Matter of fact, I want it right now.”
She let out a breath. “The first foster home that I was in, I was young, and they had a dog. Tilly,” she shared.
“And you’ve never used that name before, ever?”
“No, I’ve never mentioned it because the dog died while I was there. I was pretty heartbroken over it all.”
“Ah, okay, good. And do you remember the name of the foster family?”
“No, I don’t even know if I ever saw it. Yet I can tell you where I lived.” And she gave him the street address.
He nodded. “Good, good. And you won’t ever forget that?”
“No, that’s not something I would forget. They were decent. And I was maybe … around ten. One of the reasons why I remember that address is because it was one of the things they drilled into me, you know, making sure I had a way to get home.”
“Good,” he agreed. “That’s something every parent should teach their kid.”
“Yeah,” she muttered. “Anyway, that’s what I’ve got for you.”
“I also need samples of your handwriting,” he added, “because that’s not likely something she could replicate.”
She swallowed. “I wonder if I should draw up some document.”
Almost immediately his phone rang. He pulled it out and answered, “Stefan, what’s up?”
“You do need documentation. You need something about what she says will happen and what her concerns are,” he declared.
“And I know that sounds absolutely bizarre, but, if we have something to work with, I can get other people to help. Most people aren’t willing to just dive in if they don’t have any physical proof. ”
“Which is why I was just asking her.”
“And that’s a good start, Camden,” Stefan noted.
“You just need to do more. Get as many of those kinds of questions as you can. Plus I agree with her. Something’s building, and it’s almost there.
So, get all that down quickly.” After a dark silence, he added, “I figured out when this is likely to happen.”
“When?” she asked urgently.
“At the full moon tomorrow night,” he shared.
“So, the energies will be stronger, crazier, and a whole lot more difficult to deal with at that point in time. And they’re a little wild anyway.
Moon energies can be quite convoluted to control.
They’re also very emotional. So, I suspect that, if Tabitha’s trying to do something, that’s her window. ”