Chapter Eight #2
Once we arrive back at the farm, I find Craig’s police cruiser parked at the main house. I pull up next to it and don’t even have the truck shut off before Alice opens her door to make a fast escape.
“Wait for me,” I tell her.
She stiffens at the order, but does as I say.
Climbing out of the truck, I walk around to the other side and take hold of her hips like I always do before lowering her to the ground.
I get no acknowledgment other than a murmured “thank you.” Then, she tries making a run for it.
“Not so fast, sweetheart.” Snagging her wrist, I force her back against the truck, bracing my hands on either side of her head.
She gazes up at me with wide, uncertain eyes.
“If you have something to say to me, then fucking say it so we can move on.”
“I don’t,” she whispers, looking away.
“Bullshit!”
The heated retort sends her gaze snapping back to mine, that hint of fire I witnessed earlier returning.
“This is obviously about what Courtney said about my brothers and me. It’s the one rumor you have been dying to ask since I picked you up from that damn hospital and we both know it.”
She lifts her chin, realizing there is no point to deny it anymore. “Fine, Linda might have mentioned something about it, but it doesn’t matter because your dating life is none of my business.”
Her response only pisses me off more. “Let’s get something straight. I don’t date. I fuck. That’s all Courtney was and a bad memory is all she will ever be.”
“And what about me, Braxten?” she asks. “Is that all I’ll ever be to you? A bad memory? The girl you felt sorry for?”
“I feel a lot of things for you, Alice, but sorry isn’t one of them.”
Despite the declaration, I see the doubt in her eyes and I can’t blame her.
“Look, my brothers and I have a certain relationship. It’s complicated and I can never tell you all the reasons why, but I can tell you it’s changed. It’s not what it used to be and it shifted again the day I found you.”
“Maybe it shouldn’t.” Her voice cracks as sadness takes over her face. “Because no matter how much we pretend otherwise, I’m just the lost girl you found and it’s all I’m ever going to be.”
A single tear tracks down her cheek before she looks away again, the sight of it sucker punching me in the gut.
Grasping her chin, I force her wounded eyes back to mine.
“That’s right, Alice, I’m the one who found you so you know what that means?
” I don’t give her a chance to respond. Leaning down, I skim my nose across her soft cheek, hearing her sharp intake of breath as I trail my lips to her ear. “Finders keepers…”
I leave the sentence unfinished, not knowing how far to take it just yet. Pulling back, I find her gazing up at me with so much longing it’s about to bring me to my fucking knees.
Before either of us can say more, a bang sounds behind me, shattering the silence. Turning, I find Justice on the front porch, his hard expression putting me on alert.
“We got trouble.”
The urgency in his tone puts me in motion. Grabbing Alice’s hand, I pull her behind me, leading her into the house.
Inside we find my brothers, father, and Craig in the kitchen. Their solemn expressions have lead settling in my gut, heavy and hard.
“What’s going on?” I ask.
My father picks up a sheet of paper and hands it to me. “Take a look.”
Alice slides in closer, both of us taking in the computerized letter that’s titled: Who is Alice?
My blood begins to pump violently as I read the words before me…
A wounded bird unable to fly with no memory to piece together that fateful time.
Left for the wolves to find, the pack walked in blind wondering who this Alice is and what her mind has to hide.
Could it be that she was left to be found by a past that’s tied and bound?
A simple connection or more, perhaps they all have something to abhor. Come upon death’s door to find out what I have in store.
Alice’s fingertips grip my arm tightly, a slight tremble taking hold. My eyes lift from the paper to the others.
“A poetic fucker, isn’t he?” Justice mocks, the same fury I feel edging his voice.
“Where did it come from?” I ask.
“It was delivered with the mail this morning,” my father answers. “Obviously no return address, but I think it’s safe for us to presume that you finding Alice is not coincidental.”
It’s something I had already known, something I felt deep down, but now that it’s solidified it leaves me questioning everything and everyone. Who would be stupid enough to fuck with us and even worse, use Alice as a pawn to do it?
“As soon as I got the call from Thatcher I went to the post office and checked their surveillance cameras,” Craig says, opening a folder that sits in front of him.
“The clerk was able to pinpoint the time of delivery with this individual.” He pushes an image across the table toward Alice and me, revealing a distorted picture of a guy wearing a hood who is clearly going to great lengths to keep his face hidden.
“I know it’s not much, but does anything jump out at either of you? Anything familiar at all?”
I shake my head and so does Alice. With this kind of image it could literately be anyone.
“Forget the picture for a moment,” Justice says. “We need to focus on the riddle. It says our pasts are tied and bound. We have to know her from somewhere.”
“Why don’t we ask her?” Knox cuts in, his accusation clear. “It says her mind hides the answers.”
“Back off, Knox,” I warn.
Alice shakes her head. “I don’t know anything, I swear.”
I pull her against my chest, my narrowed eyes never leaving my brother. “We know that. My brother is just being an asshole.”
Knox glares back, but lays off.
Alice lifts her face, her fear and confusion prevalent. “I don’t understand. Are we connected somehow and don’t know it?”
“I don’t know, Wonderland, but we’ll figure it out. I promise.”
“Maybe the connection is someone you all know,” Craig says. “You guys ever have a falling out with someone? Someone who could have a vendetta against you?”
We definitely have our share of enemies, it’s impossible not to in our line of work, but there is only one person from our past that stands out. One that would be hateful enough to do this, but he’s buried ten feet under, burning in hell where he belongs.
My brothers and I share a look, our thoughts reflecting the other’s.
Justice shakes his head. “There’s no way. It’s not possible.”
He’s right. Hobbs is dead, we made sure of it. Months after we came to live with my father we looked up the group home and found out that it had burned to the ground the night we left. Hobbs’ remains were all that was found in the destructive rubble.
The article stated there was a shortage in the wiring that sent the entire place up in flames, killing the head guard in charge, a trusted and well respected man who made it his life mission in helping the less fortunate.
Trusted and respected my ass. Fredrick Harlen Hobbs was a sick son of a bitch who fed off the pain of others. He inflicted some of the worst kinds of torture on innocent children.
I have no doubt that’s why the place went up in flames. There is no way that fire was accidental. It was just a cover up to hide all the abuse and corruption that was going on in that hellhole.
Craig’s gaze shifts between all three of us. “What’s not possible?”
“Nothing,” we all answer in unison.
“Look, if there is something I need to know, you fuckers better speak up now.”
Silence slithers through the room, the quiet as stifling as the tension.
It’s an answer none of us will give because it’s just another secret from the past that we all agreed to take to our graves.
“If my boys say it’s nothing then it’s nothing,” my father breaks the silence, coming to our defense, like always.
It makes me feel like shit since we never told him the truth, mainly because we didn’t want to put him in the position of aiding and abetting criminals.
More than that, we were scared we would lose the love and family we had finally found.
It’s something we weren’t willing to jeopardize and we still aren’t.
Craig frustratingly relents. “All right then, let’s go back to when you all first met. If we want to assume what this riddle says is true, it has to do with all three of you. So how far back do we go?”
Justice decides to take the reins. “We met in a group home when we were fourteen.”
“Name?” Craig asks, writing on his notepad.
“It’s not around anymore.”
Craig lifts his head, eyeing Justice over his waiting pen. “Doesn’t matter, I still need the name.”
He hesitates for a long second before reluctantly replying. “South Haven.”
“Any enemies I should look at there?”
“Take your pick,” Knox says. “The assholes running it were enemies to us all.”
Craig cocks a brow. “Care to elaborate on that?”
“Nope.”
His jaw locks in frustration.
I decide to jump in and finish this once and for all.
“Look, we were only there a few weeks. After that, we were on the streets for a while before finding our homeless asses here. And before you ask, the only people we pissed off during that time were the business owners we stole from to eat. That enough information for you, Sheriff ?”
It’s a low blow and I know it. He’s always been more than that to us, but the truth is, this shit isn’t easy to talk about. It’s everything I have spent my life trying to forget.
Thankfully, Craig doesn’t take offense. “It will do for now.” He closes up his notepad with a snap. “I’ll start with the group home then go from there. I’m also going to send out Alice’s photo to other departments and see if any tips come in.”
I open my mouth to reject the idea, but he holds a hand up, cutting me off before I can.
“He already knows she’s here. He has an agenda and we need to figure it out before his next move. The only way to do that is to find out who she is.”
I grit my teeth, knowing he’s right. “Fine, but departments only. No media.”
He nods. “You have my word.”
“Thanks for all your help, Craig,” my father says. “We appreciate it.”
“I’ll let you guys know as soon as I have something.”
In the meantime, I have some plans of my own. Plans of digging into a past I never wanted to revisit again.
A past I will have no choice but to remember.