Chapter 5 #2
“You don’t wanna do that,” he warned. “Listen, it’s clear you’re distrustful of authority, and I understand you may be confused, and I’ll explain, just…let me in.”
Maybe it was desperate desire for an explanation for the impossibility that Shiloh was alive, or maybe it was the innate sense of respect for authority figures that the military had only strengthened.
Either way, I finally picked my jaw up off the floor and forced myself down the steps.
I shoved Jae out of the way, stepping aside for the man to enter.
“Enoch! What the hell are you doing?!”
I ignored Jae. Deputy Shaw nodded at me as he crossed the threshold. “You got a table or a couch or something? You’re probably going to want to sit down for this.”
I blinked, shaking my head. “Ye-yeah. Um, upstairs.”
“Enoch,” Jae gritted out between clenched teeth as he held me back by my collar, preventing me from following the deputy upstairs. “What the actual fuck did you do today, huh?”
My pulse spiked as I began to sweat. “I don’t know.”
“Bullshit. Who is Emory Crawford?”
I shoved out of his hold and turned to face him. “I don’t fucking know, Jae. Let’s go find out!” I whisper-shouted.
I left him at the door seething as I bounded upstairs.
“Um, you can take a seat anywhere,” I mumbled awkwardly, studying the man. He seemed to be surveying the house, like some sort of threat would pop up at any moment. A look I recognized from when my father was younger and still in the military.
He nodded and pulled out a chair at the kitchen island, gesturing for me to take the seat. I swallowed, nerves fluttering in my stomach.
This man had answers. He had answers as to what the actual hell was going on, and I didn’t care if Jae hated me forever after this, but I needed to hear the man out. If not for my own sanity, for the sake of everyone around me.
I was serious when I said I needed psychiatric help.
Deputy Shaw cleared his throat and sniffed, scrubbing at his jaw.
“Tell me what happened today.”
I blinked, taken aback by the command. I thought he was going to give me answers, not the other way around. I eyed Jae who had climbed the stairs with his baseball bat, staring at the deputy with distrust.
Deputy Shaw flicked his gaze to Jae with a head nod of acknowledgement, smirking as he eyed the bat, before turning his attention back to me.
“Go on. Tell me what happened.”
My heart fluttered uncomfortably in my chest and my cheeks burned. Was I getting Punk’d or something? This…this was so ridiculously humiliating.
“Um, well, I, um…I had a work event at this climbing gym. Uh…there was a woman there. And she…” I trailed off, eyeing Jae as he listened intently.
“Well…I don’t really know how or why, but I, um, I’m sorry if I freaked her out, but I thought she was someone that I used to know. Am I…am I in trouble or something?”
“No,” Deputy Shaw shook his head. “You’re not in trouble.” My shoulders sagged with a little bit of relief. “But you could be if you told anyone else about what you saw today.”
“Is that a threat?” Jae asked, adjusting the bat in his hands.
“No,” the deputy said with an eye roll. “Can you tell me who exactly you thought you saw?”
“Um,” I wiped my hands on my gym shorts. “My, um…well her name was Shiloh. Shiloh Tellez.”
The deputy nodded and I waited with bated breath for him to say something.
“And did you tell anyone else that you thought you saw Shiloh Tellez this afternoon?”
My eyes narrowed and I shook my head. “No. No…just,” I nodding my head at Jae. “But…my whole office was at the gym when I…when called her Shiloh and…acted like I knew her.”
The deputy seemed to be weighing the truth of my words.
“And where did you go after you left the gym?”
“Well, my coworkers drove me home and I’ve been here ever since.”
“And did you discuss with your coworkers the fact that you thought you had run into someone who died five years ago?”
My eyes narrowed at his mention of that fact. So, he did know who Shiloh Tellez was. Why?
“No…I was…embarrassed. I asked if they had seen her. If I had like hallucinated the whole thing, and they confirmed that she was there, but…the woman, Emory, she denied knowing me and left. So, I dropped the topic after they confirmed she was at least not a ghost but a mistaken identity.”
Deputy Shaw took a deep breath, cracking his knuckles before he nodded, like he had decided something.
“I know it’s confusing and hard to understand, but…you did see Shiloh Tellez today.” My stomach dropped, mind spinning. What? “However, she is no longer Shiloh Tellez. Her name now is Emory Crawford. She—”
“Woah, woah, woah. Hold up!” Jae interrupted, stepping into the deputy’s personal space. “You’ve got to be shitting me right now. This isn’t fucking funny. I dunno who you really are, but this is stopping right the hell now. I’m calling the fucking police and—”
“This isn’t…what exactly are you saying?” I asked, cutting Jae off.
Deputy Shaw dipped his chin to stare at me. “Shiloh’s death was faked. She’s been in Witness Protection—”
I laughed, tears filling my eyes. “What? No! That’s not…”
“Witness Protection?” Jae parroted with raised brows. “No fucking way. This is a joke, this is…” Jae suddenly shoved the deputy by the shoulders. “Stop fucking with his head, man. This is sick. I dunno who put you up to this but we’re not buying this horseshit.”
Alive. Shiloh’s. Alive. I laughed again, tears streaming down my face. I really was going insane.
“Would you stop, already?” the deputy growled, shoving Jae back. “Clearly, I underestimated your comprehension abilities,” he muttered to himself.
The deputy sighed, removing his cap to scrub a hand through his hair.
“Can I see her? Can I talk to her? Where is she?”
Jae pulled his phone out of his pocket, shaking his head.
“What are you doing?” Deputy Shaw asked.
“Calling the real authorities.”
“Now, now. You sure you want to do that?”
Jae scoffed. “Uh, yeah. I’m pretty fucking sure I want you to stop harassing us.”
“Jae, stop! Do you not hear what he’s saying? Shiloh’s alive!”
Jae looked between the two of us, eyes narrowed like he was trying to figure out which one of us was actually sane.
“Oh, I heard him. I just don’t believe him.
That’s fucking insane, Enoch! She’s dead!
We held her funeral, she left us fucking suicide notes…
Why the fuck would she suddenly show up at your work event?
Huh?” Jae jabbed a finger into his temple.
“Think, Enoch! Think. Why the hell would she be living here in fucking Alaska of all places? You really think if she was in “Witness Protection” they’d come over here asking us to be quiet about it?
Is this fucking Hollywood? No. If she was in Witness Protection, you wouldn’t fucking know about it. ”
I swallowed. Shit. He had a point. That didn’t make any sense.
“Why are you here?” I asked the Marshal skeptically.
“To make sure you haven’t put her in danger.”
“So, you’ve spoken to her?” I stood from my chair. “Where is she? Is she here?” I looked towards the window as if she would magically appear.
“She’s not here. And I’m not about to tell you where she is. I’m only here to make sure that you have not jeopardized her safety and your own.”
I chuckled in disbelief. In relief.
She’s alive.
I’m not fucking crazy!
I smiled to myself. Thank you, God. Holy shit. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you.
I couldn’t contain the excitement bubbling up in my chest.
“She’s really here?” I asked. “She’s here? In Anchorage?”
He sighed with exhaustion, muttering something under his breath.
Jae scoffed in disbelief, eyes wide as his gaze bounced between the both of us. “This is actually fucking insane. Why the hell would she do that? She…Why would she leave those voicemails? Why didn’t she just tell us she was going into Witness Protection?”
Deputy Shaw gave Jae an exasperated look.
“You think she’d have been allowed to tell you if she was joining Witness Protection?
” He let that question hang in the air for a moment before flicking his gaze back to me.
“Now, are you both going to keep your mouths shut or are we going to have a problem here?”
Jae’s hand tightened around the bat, eyes flaring with raw anger.
“Yes,” I nodded. “I swear, we won’t tell anyone.”
Deputy Shaw narrowed his eyes, studying Jae for a moment. I swallowed nervously.
“If you tell anyone about who she really is, you’d be putting yourselves in danger too. Understand?”
Jae finally relented with a head nod. “I won’t tell anyone.”
“Good,” Bradley said with finality.
“Can I…how can I reach her? I want to see her.” I asked.
“You don’t.”
“What? What do you mean? She—” My chest constricted. She doesn’t want to see me.
Deputy Shaw must have seen something on my face to make him feel some sort of sympathy because he sighed, “Look, kid. The best thing for all of you is to stay out of each other’s lives.
I can’t force you to do anything, but I’m telling you…
you really shouldn’t be seen together. It’ll just get messy.
So, please, don’t do anything stupid. For all your sakes. ”
My ass fell back into the chair and I nodded slowly.
She’s alive. She’s alive. She’s alive.