Chapter 12 #2
Bella knew the rules. She knew them inside and out. But knowing the rules and following them were different things. She knew not to sneak out, but she’d done it anyway. Twice. Maybe Liam was right. Maybe Bella was encouraging this behavior.
“And are you certain it’s all on Bella? Honestly?” She needed to know his thoughts. Was she wrong and losing control of Bella?
“Honestly, I think what we have is two girls who have been through a lot and are vulnerable. Someone noticed and manipulated them. Taking the cans of spray paint and running off is proof they’re not bad girls. They knew what they were doing was wrong and stopped before it got worse.”
Sam rolled her lips over her teeth. He had a point. “Okay. So what do we do now?”
Liam pulled his phone from his pocket and made a few swipes. “Based on my tracking app, Sophia’s still at home.”
“We both know that doesn’t mean a thing.” They were smart enough to have left their phones at home before. Just not smart enough not to get into trouble.
She’d been so focused on Bella being the innocent one, she’d never considered any other angle. Was everything Sam had worked for over the last six years slowly slipping away?
Liam hadn’t resorted to putting all the blame on Bella. Not like she had done to Sophia. He was steady, competent, capable. He’d looked at the situation objectively and turned what could have been a disastrous argument into something where they could work together for the good of the girls.
A small warmth threaded through her chest, and she quickly shoved it down, unwilling to think about what it meant.
Liam stared at Sam. She was scared. She acted like she was holding it all together on the surface, but the furrowed brows, the tight line of her lips, and her rigid posture said otherwise.
That was why she’d lashed out. He couldn’t really blame her. He wanted to lash out, to blame anyone but Sophia, but the truth was, it didn’t matter who’d started it—the girls had each followed. They’d made their own choices.
He broke his gaze from Sam and looked at the blinking dot that represented Sophia’s phone. It was exactly where it should be, but she’d deceived him before.
He switched over to his contacts and hit her name. It rang and rang. He inwardly groaned. He thought he’d gotten through to her last night. Apparently, it had gone in one ear and out the other.
“Hello?” Sophia answered.
The tension in Liam’s shoulders disappeared. “Hey, Sophia. I’m with Isabella’s aunt. Isabella left the fire station and didn’t tell anyone where she was going. Do you know where she might be?”
“Yeah, she’s here.”
“Sophia, I thought I grounded you.” He pinched the bridge of his nose. Isabella sneaking out of the fire station and to his house didn’t really help prove his case that Sophia wasn’t the problem in this messed-up equation.
“I know. I’m sorry, but she needed me.” Concern laced her voice.
His pulse picked up. “Is everything okay?”
“For now. Can you come home?”
He looked at Sam. Something was not all right. “Are you safe?” He brushed past Sam and opened the door, making a beeline to his vehicle.
“What’s going on?” Sam followed him.
Liam didn’t miss the looks from her coworkers as they sped through the dayroom.
“Yes. It’s nothing like that. We just need to talk to you about something.”
He could hear Isabella’s voice in the background but couldn’t make out what was said.
“We’re on our way.” He used the fob, unlocked the vehicle, and opened the door.
“Lieutenant!” Sam yelled as she veered off from Liam.
There was silence over the phone.
“Sophia.” His tone was sharp.
“Just you,” she said. “I had to leave the room. Isabella’s scared, and I don’t think she’ll say anything if her sister shows up.”
Sam climbed into the passenger seat and started buckling up.
Liam stroked his chin. “Okay.” He disconnected the call.
“Isabella is at your house? Is she hurt?” Sam looked at him, concern filling her features.
He nodded. “They want to talk to me.” She wasn’t going to like this. “Alone.”
Her eyes widened. “They don’t want me there?”
“Sophia said Isabella is scared, and she’s afraid she won’t talk to me if you show up.”
Her shoulders slumped and her face fell. He’d just delivered an emotional punch. He knew how it would feel if the girls didn’t want him there.
“I’m sorry.” Like that would make it better. “I’ll go talk to the girls and let you know what’s going on. I promise.”
Sam stared out the windshield. “She doesn’t want me there?”
He reached over and laid his hand on her forearm. “Don’t let your thoughts go crazy. I’ve seen it before. Kids are more open and honest with someone they don’t know that well, because they’re not worried about that person being disappointed in them.”
Sam turned to look at him. “I’m supposed to just let you go, and I stay here?”
“Do you trust me?” He studied her face. “I’m the one here to keep you and Bella safe.”
“I don’t even know you.”
“I understand. I’m asking a lot of you right now. But trust me. Let me go see what I can find out.”
The emergency alarm started blaring.
“Go do your job. I’ll call you after I’ve talked to them.”
Her coworkers flooded into the bay.
“Okay.” She got out of his vehicle and jogged to the engine, then started preparing to go out.
Liam put the vehicle in Reverse. “Lord, we need You now. Give me strength to deal with whatever is coming and knowledge on how to handle it. Give Sam the peace and comfort only You can. Be with Isabella and Sophia and give them strength to face this. In Jesus’s name.”
All kinds of scenarios went through his mind on his way home. None of them good. He pulled into the driveway, took a deep breath, and said another prayer before climbing from the vehicle and going inside.
“Sophia. I’m home.” He shut and locked the front door.
“We’re in here,” Sophia yelled from her bedroom.
He turned into her room and found the two girls huddled together on the floor, next to Sophia’s bed. Tear stains streaked Isabella’s face.
His heart constricted. Whatever was going on was serious. He squatted down in front of the girls. “Everything is going to be okay.”
Whatever the situation was, they’d handle it.
Isabella shook her head.
Sophia nudged her. “We have to tell him.”
Tears rolled down Isabella’s cheeks. “I know.”
She reached into her jacket pocket, pulled out a phone, and handed it to him. “Here.”
Sophia moved a bit and produced another phone identical to the one Isabella had. She swiped the screen a few times and handed the phone to him.
A text message from an unknown number was displayed on the screen.
Unknown Number
Keep your mouth shut. Or else.
Liam looked at Sophia and then at Isabella.
“We both got one,” Sophia said.
Liam tensed as he looked over the phone. It was a typical pay-as-you-go phone that could be bought at a gas station. Nothing fancy. And not the phone he’d purchased for Sophia. He took a deep breath. He didn’t need to go at this the wrong way, or the girls would clam up.
“Okay. We can deal with this.” He stood. “Let’s go into the kitchen.” He stood and left the girls alone.
“See. I told you,” Sophia whispered.
He grabbed three cans of soda from the fridge and set them on the table. Then he sat and waited for the teens.
A few minutes later, they shuffled into the kitchen and sat at the table.
“Okay. Tell me everything from the beginning.”
Sophia looked at Isabella and waited. When it was clear she wasn’t going to say anything, Sophia took a deep breath. “There’re some kids at school. The ones that were vaping in the bathroom.”
Liam nodded and waited for her to continue.
“They’re the Renegade Rebels. They’re cool.”
He fought to keep his eyes from rolling. Typical high school social hierarchy.
“Well, when we got caught with a few of them in the bathroom, we refused to say who we saw provide the vape. They thought that was cool and started talking to us more.”
She looked at Isabella. “The day we pulled the fire alarm, Sabrina, the leader, said that her boyfriend was leaving for boot camp. He graduated last year. She said her parents wouldn’t let her say goodbye to him, and he’d be gone for more than six months.
She wouldn’t get to see or talk to him until after he got out. ”
Isabella took over. “She asked us if we could help her sneak out to go see him one last time. We agreed.”
Liam knew where this was going. To be young and naive again.
“We pulled the fire alarm so she could sneak away during the evacuation.” Isabella wrapped her arms around her middle.
“Go on,” he encouraged.
Sophia fidgeted in her chair. “The next day, they texted us and asked us if we wanted to hang out. They told us to leave our phones at home. So we met them at the park.”
Liam schooled his face.
“They said we were cool for covering for them both times.” Sophia shrugged.
Bella took over the explanation again. “We were hanging out and having fun, and one of them pulled out spray paint and started tagging things at the park. They wanted to go to another secluded place and do more painting.”
Bella looked at Sophia.
Sophia wrapped her arm around her friend. “We need to tell the truth. Get it all out there.”
Bella nodded. “We followed them. They gave us a couple cans, and we sprayed some dumpsters. Tori—Sabrina’s best friend—and her boyfriend disappeared for a few minutes.
Probably to make out. When they came back, they gave us the cell phones they’d bought at the grocery store.
Said since we left ours at home, we needed a way to stay in touch with them while we were out. ”
As an adult, Liam could see the signs in the story. These friends had been testing them. Seeing how trustworthy they were, pulling them deeper into their world.
He had questions but didn’t want to interrupt in case they stopped talking. It was best to get it all out, and then he could go back in and ask those questions to fill in the blanks.
“One of the guys that was with us kept playing with a lighter,” Bella continued. “He’d grab long pieces of grass or leaves and set them on fire and watch them burn.”
“It was weird the way he watched the flames,” Sophia added. “Like he was hypnotized.”
Bella nodded. “Anyway, he said he wanted to watch something burn. He lit a piece of trash on fire and threw it in the trash can.” She swallowed.
“Sabrina called him an idiot and put the fire out with her bottle of water. She told him to save it for later. That’s when I knew we needed to get out of there.
So while Sabrina and Tori argued, we snuck off. ”
“So you called me from this cell phone?” He looked at the two cell phones on the table.
The girls nodded.
“What happened after you left?”
“You found the spray cans and yelled at me for having them,” Sophia said.
“I didn’t yell.” He pinned Sophia with a stare.
“Anyway,” Sophia continued. “We decided we didn’t want to be a part of their stuff anymore, so we ghosted them.”
Apparently, they hadn’t taken that too well. “Is this the first threatening message you’ve gotten from them?”
“You can read the texts.” Sophia nodded at the phones.
He had every intention of doing so.
Maybe Sam had every reason to be scared—the girls were getting themselves into some pretty sketchy stuff. A slippery slope.
But did it connect to the fire at their house and the doctor’s death? Liam didn’t know, but he was determined to find out.