19. Daisy
Chapter nineteen
Daisy
Brad’s words have been rolling around in my head all night because I couldn’t tell if they were a threat or genuine concern.
After listening to his story about Emily’s death and learning that he’d helped Angel’s family remove rubble in one of the tunnels, there’s a part of me that wants to believe he’s innocent; that he couldn’t be capable of taking the girls.
But then there are the two weeks he takes off every year that coincide with the abductions, his need for exploring and hiking, his work with Dominion, and the picture of Emily Bloom that Owen found in an old archive that had been digitized.
It didn’t come as a shock when I saw that Emily Bloom had dark umber hair that was somewhere between brown and black.
Her eyes were also dark brown and full of life when she smiled, evident from the photo I stared at for hours.
While it could all be a coincidence, my gut says Emily is the key. But how?
As I sit at the diner with Angel, his family, Vinny, and Jaxon, the questions floating through my mind won’t stop coming.
“Earth to Daisy,” Angel says, waving his hand in my face. “Are we boring you?”
“Leave the girl alone,” his mother, Barbara, scolds. “She’s been through quite an ordeal.”
Angel looks at his mom. “Yes, Mom. I know. I was with her and have the head wound to prove it.”
Seth snickers. “I would have thought Daisy was the one to hit her head. She chose to give you a second chance, after all. No one in their right mind would do that.”
“Don’t forget Angel took a paralyzing dart to the butt to earn his penance,” Vinny says. “Daisy has pictures on her phone for posterity.”
“It was the thigh,” Angel corrects.
“Please tell me that you’ll send us copies,” Ben says to me.
I look up at him and see the same blond hair and blue eyes as Angel.
Where Angel has the more rugged features of his father, Ben definitely looks like the male version of his mother.
On the other hand, Seth has blond hair and green eyes like Faith, while Jordan is the only one who looks just like his father in every aspect: brown hair, green eyes, and a dimpled chin.
I nod like a robot.
Angel reaches for my hand under the table, his words pulling me from my thoughts. “Are you still thinking about Brad’s parting words?”
“Yeah.” I give his hand a squeeze before looking at the Conways staring back at me, not with pity, but with loving concern. “I couldn’t tell if they were a warning or if they were born from grief at his loss.”
“It could be from both,” Jordan says before taking a quick sip of the coffee Dottie poured when we first arrived.
“I’ve often found in the homicide cases I’ve worked so far that there were signs and warnings long before the murder took place.
If I were you, I’d err on the side of caution and assume it’s a warning.
The loss of his fiancée could have caused something in him to snap. ”
I shrug. “Either way, I think we need to talk to Emily’s parents and find out more about her brother. According to Owen, there is no brother, not even a birth certificate to validate the claim. Either Brad was lying, or someone has gone to great lengths to remove themselves from existence.”
“Even if that’s true, it’s nearly impossible to completely wipe away one’s existence,” Jaxon says with his arm resting casually on the back of Faith’s chair.
While not officially in the Conway family, he will be once he and Faith tie the knot in a few months.
“I changed my face, my name, and assumed an entirely new identity to protect my wife and son. It was good enough that it could stand up to scrutiny. Heck, Faith didn’t recognize me for almost a year.
What I couldn’t do was get rid of the pictures my adopted parents had on their walls, on their phones, or in their photo albums. I couldn’t erase the memory from the minds of people who loved me before. ”
“Exactly. That’s why I want to go to Colorado and meet with Mason and Gemma Bloom. I want to see the photographs adorning their walls.”
“What about the group of girls coming from the Academy tomorrow?” Faith asks. “I figured you’d want to be in the thick of it.”
I remember what Angel said to me before about how I’m not alone in this.
“I trust you, Jaxon, and the rest of the team to watch from a distance, close enough to follow but far enough away that you can’t be identified.
From what I know about my captor, he waits patiently for the right moment to strike.
When he took me, it was late at night while everyone was sleeping, and he also knew that I’d argued with my parents about going camping.
Trust me, he’ll wait until there’s a reason to cast doubt and make others believe the girl ran away. ”
“And by ‘he,’ I assume you mean Brad,” Faith says. “I don’t know about that because he left just like he said he would.”
“But the trackers I placed on his RV and truck show that he’s near Grants Pass,” Jaxon adds.
“That’s not far from the Oregon Caves,” Bill says.
“He could be scouting out a new location to hide his next victim now that the mines have been compromised. I’ve been on one of the spelunking tours there, and though the main cave is only three miles long, there are plenty of small caverns where someone could hole up for a few days. Want us to go check it out?”
Vinny answers for us both after looking around to ensure it’s just us on this side of the restaurant. “Surveillance only, Bill. No heroics and no weapons. Unlike what happened in Colombia, we don’t have a clear target to engage.”
Jordan wipes his mouth and pushes away his empty plate of Dottie’s homemade corned beef hash. “You should let Ben, Seth, and me conduct the stakeout. We’re used to sitting for long periods of time and monitoring from a distance without being detected.”
“Boy, do you know who you’re talking to?” Bill asks. “Vinny and I spent days at a time in the Gulf War watching targets through nothing more than the scope on our rifles.”
“Here we go,” Barbara says with a knowing grin.
She deepens her voice to mimic her husband.
“The sun was blistering our skin on a rooftop in Baghdad while waiting for Saddam Hussein to emerge from behind the golden gates of his palace walls. Our only company was each other and a camel spider the size of Texas named Willie. It was four long and agonizing days before we would get the chance to….”
“I do not sound like that,” Bill says with a grunt.
“You do,” all of his children reply in unison.
Angel tells the next part of the story. “…the chance to take the shot. When I had him lined up in my sights, ready to pull the trigger, a child chasing after a soccer ball came out of nowhere! It was too late when I squeezed, applying the ten pounds of pressure needed to end Saddam’s reign of terror on the Iraqi people.
That’s when I felt the barrel of my rifle get pushed upward. ”
Jordan goes next, also mimicking his father’s gravelly voice. “Now, I can shoot the wings off a fly at a thousand yards, blindfolded and behind my back….”
“Don’t forget uphill, both ways, in the snow,” Faith jokes.
“And barefoot,” Ben chimes in.
Seth finishes the story. “But one does not argue or question when the voice of an angel whispers in one’s ear.
” Dropping his voice to a whisper, Seth quotes, “He said, ‘The child is under my protection and will not be a casualty of this war. His battle is to be far greater than the one you are fighting, for his battle will be spiritual in the coming days, whereas this one is born from greed.’”
A chill runs down my spine as I look over at Angel, who finally puts two and two together. Uri had said he’d heard Bill’s jokes. Now we know when and where he heard them.
No one around us seems to grasp the significance, especially when everyone laughs at Bill as he holds up his hands in surrender and says, “Okay. Okay. I may have shared the story a time or two.”
“Or a thousand,” Barb quips. She looks at me and winks. “You’ll get used to it.”
The implication is not lost on me that she foresees me sitting around the Conway family table in the future, though there has been no declaration of love from Angel. In fact, he hasn’t even kissed me yet. I thought he’d kiss me the moment we were alone in the hospital room, but he didn’t.
Well, that just won’t do. With everything barreling down on us and Uri’s warning that sacrifices will need to be made, waiting any longer isn’t an option. “Angel, can we talk outside?”
“Sure,” he says, standing up and then helping me from my chair.
“Ooh, someone’s in trouble,” Seth singsongs as we walk toward the door. His taunting is quickly cut off when Vinny lightly slaps the back of his head.
Once we’re alone outside the diner, I keep my back turned and look at the cloud-covered sky. While focusing on its bluish tint, I say, “Snow will be coming. That could be both a blessing and a curse. Easier to track, but more dangerous to traverse.”
Angel stands next to me, staring at the same sky. “True, but you didn’t ask me out here to talk about the weather. I know my family can be a little overwhelming, but….”
“They’re wonderful,” I tell him. “Jaxon is fortunate to be marrying into a family who loves each other so much but also ribs each other just as fiercely. My family is like that, but on a much smaller scale.”
I feel Angel’s fingers entwine with mine before he turns me so that we’re facing each other. His other hand grazes my cheek and cups it gently, the warmth from his touch seeping into my skin. “Are you having second thoughts about moving our relationship out of the friend zone?”