Chapter 35 #2
We go into the living room and sit at the table. The kid watches us, picking up a large stuffed teddy bear.
Rachael comes back with a cup. She hands it to her daughter, kisses the top of her head, and then walks around the coffee table and sits on the chair opposite us. She tucks her hands between her knees.
“I’m so sorry,” she says quietly. “I feel terrible about it. I have not slept properly in over a week. I feel sick every time I think about it. I had no choice. You have to understand. I had no choice.”
“Start at the beginning,” I say. She pulls in a breath, glancing at her daughter, who has gone back to playing.
“I got a message,” she says. “On my phone. It wasn’t a number I knew. There were pictures of Katie attached,” she whispers the last, glancing at her little girl, who looks to be around five, maybe six at a push.
“The pictures were from the schoolyard and from the park. Whoever sent them had been close to her. Close enough to take pictures without me noticing. I—” She breaks.
She presses her fingers to her mouth and holds them there.
After a beat, she goes on. “They said if I went to the authorities, Katie would be killed. That was the first message.”
“Do you still have the messages?” Flint asks.
“Can we see them?”
“They told me to delete them. At first, I didn’t.
I read them over and over. I almost went to the guards.
I wanted to. I was going to. I engaged with them in the chat.
I asked who they were. What they wanted.
They said there was something they needed me to do.
It wouldn’t be difficult or illegal. If I did this thing, they would go away and leave us alone.
I was hesitant, as you can well imagine.
” Her voice goes very small. “That’s when they threatened Katie.
Told me they would hurt her,” she whispers.
It’s clear that she’s trying to hold it together.
“I think they could tell I was hesitating. Or maybe they just needed to make sure I understood that they were serious. Because the next…” Her voice hitches, and her breathing picks up.
She pulls in another breath, and her eyes go glassy with unshed tears.
We leave her to pull herself together.
It takes her a minute.
The little girl starts singing softly to her doll, none the wiser. It seems to give Rachael the strength she needs to continue because she sits a little straighter in her chair and licks her lips.
“They sent me pictures from inside Katie’s bedroom,” she says.
“Someone had been in my house. Inside her bedroom.” Her voice breaks a little.
She pulls in a deep breath. “They were close-ups of her in bed, sleeping. They told me that next time, they wouldn’t take pictures.
They would kill her and leave her in her bed for me to find in the morning.
” She lets out a shaky breath. “I have never been so afraid in my life.”
Tears start to roll down her cheeks.
“Take your time,” I say.
She wipes her eyes with the heel of her hand and sniffs a few times.
“I did exactly what they asked. I deleted every message. They told me I’d find a cellphone in a bag in the glove box of my car.” She lets out a horrible little laugh. “They had been inside my car, too.” Her hands start shaking, and she folds them tighter.
“Rachael.” I keep my voice low. “Take a few deep breaths for me. You’re doing great.”
She nods and does as I ask. Across the room, her daughter glances up at the sound of her mother’s name and then goes back to her toys.
“They told me where I needed to go and what I needed to do,” she says, steadier now.
“I had to be on standby and to move on their request. I did everything that they told me. I went to the location and dropped the phone in front of your friend so that he would pick it up. I wore gloves like they told me. I bagged the phone, ready for collection.”
“What then?” Flint asks.
“It didn’t take long for them to give me a drop-off location. I had to meet someone in the little park down the street and pass the burner over.”
“What time?” Flint asks.
“Just after one. About twenty minutes after I left the store.”
“Who did you meet?”
“A woman. Middle-aged. I would say around fifty, maybe a little older. The thing that got me was that she looked just as nervous as I was. She was on her own. We met at the picnic table near the duck pond. I gave her the phone. She didn’t say a word to me. She put it in her bag and walked off.”
“Do you know her?” I ask.
Rachael shakes her head.
“I’ve never seen her before, but I would know her if I saw her again. I’ve thought about her face every night since.”
“What did she look like?”
“Short,” Rachael says. “Maybe five-three. A little soft around the middle. Her hair was blonde, but it looked dyed. She had blue eyes and was wearing a navy-blue raincoat, tan slacks, and sensible shoes. Like a schoolteacher or a librarian. Not someone you’d look at twice.”
“Anything else? Any jewelry? Did she have an accent?”
“No accent that I could pick up. She didn’t speak. Just nodded at me when I held the phone out, took it, and walked off. I don’t think she was wearing any jewelry, but I can’t be sure. I was terrified.”
Flint is writing all of this down.
“And that was the last contact you had with them?” he asks.
“Yes,” she says. “I haven’t heard from them since.
But I keep waiting. I check the windows at night.
Katie sleeps with me, and I’ve been too scared to send her to kindergarten.
I haven’t been to work. I told them I’m sick.
I’m running out of excuses. I think I might have to leave Draig Island, even though this is our home.
I’m just—” She stops. Her hands go up to her face.
“I’m so afraid all the time,” she says into her palms. “I don’t know what to do.
I don’t know if they’re watching the house right now. ”
Outside, two vehicles pull up. I hear the engines cut. My phone buzzes a second later. I look at the screen.
She gasps, looking toward the door.
“It’s okay. That’s our people,” I tell her. “I need you to pack a bag. For you and for Katie. Pack just the essentials. We’re moving you in the next fifteen minutes.”
She nods and stands up. Her hands are shaking again. “Where are you taking us?”
“Somewhere safe. I won’t be told the location.”
“Will I be able to come home again once this is over?”
I look at her. “Yes, but only once it is safe to do so.”
She nods again. “Thank you. I wish I had spoken up sooner. I’m sorry about your friend.”
“You will more than likely have to give an official statement,” I tell her.
“I will need your cellphone,” says Flint.
“But I deleted everything.”
“I still need it,” Flint tells her. “We might still be able to pull something from the device.”
She nods, getting up and disappearing into the hallway. Within half a minute, she’s back and hands a cellphone to him.
“I’ll go and pack,” she tells us. “Will you watch Katie for a few minutes?”
“Of course,” I say.
“I’m going to the bedroom, baby.”
“Okay, Mommy.” Katie doesn’t even look up from the puzzle she has just started building.
“You need to get to the hospital,” Flint says to me. “Reed is going to start asking questions soon.”
I heave out a sigh. “I need to be on this.”
“I’ll handle it. You need to finish your assignment.”
I scrub a hand over my face. “I found classified information in a pouch in Dr. Keller’s bathroom.”
Flint mutters a curse under his breath.
“It’s been made to look like she’s stashed it there, ready to smuggle out when the coast is clear.”
“Have you told Reed?”
I shake my head.
“You can’t sit on this.”
“I know, but I also know that Robyn is innocent.”
“Is that your dick talking?” Flint asks under his breath.
“No.” I shake my head.
He gives me a look.
“It isn’t. She isn’t working for the Mainland.
She’s the most passionate person I’ve ever met.
Robyn loves her job. Loves saving lives.
I know she’s been framed, just like Magma.
There are a couple of places at the hospital I haven’t checked yet, and I have a bad feeling about what I am going to find. Then I’ll be forced to turn it in.”
“You go to the hospital, and I’ll try to find out who this mystery person is that Rachael met with. We might just have enough to convince Reed and the rest of the Council to hold off on arresting your doctor.”
I nod once.
“You can’t keep sitting on your hands, or you’ll get into serious trouble.”
“I’m not sure I can turn her in. I feel like an asshole.”
“You shouldn’t have gotten into bed with her.”
“I know,” I push out.
“Do you have feelings for her?”
“Not like that…no.” I shake my head. “I like her and respect her and would hate to see her hurt, but that’s where it ends.”
“I’ll take that as a yes.” Flint gives a smile that is gone in a second. “I’m glad I’m not you, bro. You shouldn’t have gone there. You know that, right?”
“Dr. Robyn Keller is the female you had me babysit at The Wing and Claw all those months ago so that you could take her friend home. The blonde…Carla. It was the last time you managed to drag me out.”
He narrows his eyes in thought, and then they widen. “Oh yes, the pretty blonde and her older friend. They were celebrating a promotion or something. Carla was cute and really great at… Never mind.”
“That’s them. I went back to her place that night.”
He chokes out a laugh, trying to keep it down. “You hooked up with your doctor back then?”
“Yep.” I nod.
“Okay…well…shit. She must have some pussy if you went back.”
I narrow my eyes, feeling my blood start to heat. “Don’t!” My voice is deep. “Don’t talk about her like that.”
“Oh, yeah… You most definitely have feelings for her.” He gives a soft laugh.
“Sorry to be disrespectful.” He holds up both hands.
“I’m sorry this is happening. I’m even more sorry that you might have to turn her in.
Let me get going.” He stands. “I’ll do my level best to get the information we need as a matter of urgency.
Hopefully, we can clear Magma, making it obvious that the others are more than likely in the clear, too. ”
I nod, standing as well. “I wish I could tell her.”
“You can’t! You absolutely cannot do that. You…”
Rachael comes out into the living room. “Come, Katie. Let’s get you dressed.” She looks up at us. “I’m going to need a few more minutes.”
“No problem,” Flint says.
Once they are gone, he turns back to me.
“Keep your mouth shut and do your job. That’s all you can do. Leave the rest up to me. I’m sure your doctor will understand when this all comes out, and it will.”
Like Magma understands.
Not likely.
“She’s going to feel so fucking betrayed,” I mutter.
Flint gives me a look that tells me he agrees and that he feels sorry for me.
I messed up.
Flint is right. I need to keep doing my job and trust him to do his. It’s looking more and more like we’re going to be able to prove that it was all a setup.
I push out a heavy breath.
“Keep me in the loop,” I tell him.
His stance softens. “I will.”
I watch him leave.