Chapter Four
A noise woke her and Kelly gasped then bolted upright.
“Calm, baby. Calm down.”
She looked up and saw Shay wearing a robe with a tray in his hand. “I brought you some juice and toast.”
With a sigh, she leaned back. “I-I thought.”
“It is okay. Everything is calm and uneventful.” He set the tray on the nightstand. “Here.” He propped a large pillow behind her.
She was now situated and almost awake.
He set the tray on her lap. “You can’t have coffee, so I got juice and toast for you.”
Smiling up at him, she nodded. “Thank you, husband of mine.”
“Anything for you, wife of mine.” He grinned at her. He went around the bed and sat down quietly.
Kelly then ate her toast and drank her juice.
Finally, Shay broke the quiet, “Tell me about Char and Rosie. How long have you known them?”
“The question should be when didn’t I know them.
I think I was five or six when they moved next door to us.
Rosie would have been just a baby at the time.
Their mom was Vanessa and their dad was Theo.
Theo worked in construction and he was always gone early in the morning and he’d come home around six at night.
Their mom stayed home with the girls even when they went to school.
They never had much money but they always had enough, I guess.
Just like mom and me. We never had extra but we always had enough.
” She paused then said, “I guess I didn’t notice it all those years ago but now the more I think about it I think Vanessa was hiding from someone.
Then came that accident. One day when Char and I were fourteen, two cops showed up and told Vanessa that her husband Theo had died.
He’d fallen three stories when the scaffolding broke apart and he died from the fall.
Vanessa looked really scared just then.”
Shay stroked her bare arms as he waited for her to go on.
Kelly sighed and went on, “About two weeks after the cops told her Theo was gone, I was at a school event that Char missed and I came home and went to bed. When I got up the next morning my mom told me Vanessa was in the hospital and the girls were gone. No one knew where they went or who they went with. Vanessa spent three days in the hospital and when she came back, her girls were just gone. A few days later, I went over to see her. I had wanted to wait until she was better to ask her about Char and Rosie. I found her dead and my mom called the police to come.” She shook her head.
“I never heard from Char again until the other night when she called me to help get her sister Rosie free.”
Shay shook his head. “And you went, just like that?”
Kelly studied him then she looked into his eyes and said, “Yes. I went to help her just like that. Char never would have asked me to come if she didn’t need help. Haven’t you ever had a friend you feel is like part of you that you trust with everything in your entire being? That’s me and Char.”
Shay nodded. “I have experienced that.”
She shrugged. “We just sort of clicked like we were sisters as soon as we met. And that carried all the years we were apart. I didn’t even hesitate although I did take a couple of my brothers along for backup.”
Shay kissed her forehead again and replied.
“Yeah, and I did feel relieved that you took a few of the brothers with you.” He leaned his head back on the headboard and stared at the ceiling.
“But that is still a touchy subject for me, babe. It about tore me up to come home and find you gone. Then to find out you were hit? I almost lost it.”
“I’m sorry that...” She sighed knowing she couldn't make up for that. She couldn’t take away the turmoil he’d gone through. “Did you find anything out about Olivia and Victor yet?”
Shay nodded. “Yeah, we did and it’s worse than we thought.”
Kelly went quiet then looked over at him and asked, “Worse? How?”
“Well, for one thing your friend Char was bought outright in an auction. Some man bought her for twenty thousand dollars that went directly into Olivia’s account.”
Kelly looked angry though she didn’t say a word.
Shay went on, “Char told us what happened when they reached his house. We looked into what she told us and holy hell. She may have laid the man who bought her, out on the living room floor but someone else followed them home and set fire to the house. The police found his body the next day and his murder is becoming a cold case. Char said she didn’t start that fire and we believe her but someone started it.
They didn’t even try to get him out of that house and the fire destroyed any evidence that might have been collected.
Then when Vanessa wouldn’t come back with Victor and he beat her like that.
She passed away a few days later and neither of them showed to claim her body or plan her funeral.
They also didn’t let either of the girls know what happened to their mother. ”
Kelly just shook her head. “See, I found their mom when she died, but I never knew he’d beaten her up or took her girls with him when he left.
..That’s just evil.” She clenched her fists.
“We need to let the whole world see the kind of people they really are. Selling kids to men like that. God only knows how many other lives they have ruined.”
Shay nodded. “Yes, and now with Trudy on the case, we should have some news on that score very soon.”
“I hope she can find enough dirt on them that will bring them down so hard that it grounds them into dust.” Kelly growled. Just then, she felt that fluttering in her belly again and Kelly gasped.
She grabbed Shay’s hand and placed it over the spot where she felt movement.
Shay’s eyes widened in shock and he stared down at her belly. “What the hell is that?” he whispered.