When he reached the final page, he became slightly concerned as he read the hand-written note from Zhu:
Stephen,
As I’m certain you’re aware, you have provided an interesting mystery for me to solve. I’ve retained the samples you provided to conduct a few more tests, which will require more than the few days you gave me.
I’m not sure what you’ve gotten yourself into, but it’s safe to say, it’s something quite groundbreaking. If you could provide me with where you procured these items, it would help me narrow down possible sources for the materials.
I’ll let you know what else I discover as the results from the tests come in.
Regards,
Zhu
Stephen scoffed at Zhu’s obvious ploy of fishing for information. “Not this time!” he said aloud, laughing at his own resourcefulness. No, he would keep this project close to the chest until he had his own final papers written and published. Nobody was going to steal this victory from him, not even a long-time friend and colleague.
Chapter Two
BEFORE GOING INTO the Wilson’s house, Amanda, Jena, Juila, and Behn rapidly canvassed the neighborhood, asking the neighbors if they had seen any suspicious cars or people lately. They also did some checking of their own to see if any evidence indicated Vinia had been taken, or if she had left something behind.
Jena stopped at the last house on the street and knocked on the door. When the woman answered the door, Jena said, “We are asking the neighbors if they have seen or heard anything unusual in the neighborhood anytime in the last couple of months.”
“Hmm,” the woman said as she considered the question. “You know, now that you mention it, I do recall seeing a white cargo van parked down the street. I thought it was probably just a service vehicle, so I didn’t really give it much thought.”
“Which house was it near?”
The woman pointed to a spot across from her house, not too far from where the triplets lived.
“Thank you. If you think of anything else, can you let the Wilsons know? They live in that house there.” Jena pointed as well to the light grey house down further.
“Sure.” She hesitated for a moment before asking, “Has something bad happened? Should I be concerned for our safety?”
“No, it’s nothing like that. We just have a few unexplained things which we’re trying to piece together. We don’t want to share too much because we want people’s recollections to not be influenced in any way. I’m sure you can understand.”
“Oh, yes, completely. I’ll ask my family when they get home. Good luck.” She smiled and gave a small wave as she shut the door.
Jena stepped off of the porch to head in the direction of the woman’s tip. Once she got there, the only thing of any note was a pile of cigarettes beside the curb. This could definitely be the clue for which they had been searching. It also helped to substantiate her initial belief of Dr. Gascon’s involvement with Vinia’s disappearance. If he had hired someone to keep watch and the employee spent his time smoking while he waited, then he could easily have had access to Vinia as she walked past this spot.
As the last to arrive at the house, Jena wanted to hear what the others had learned before she spoke. They went inside where Valentina and Jon were already waiting since Jena had called and asked them to be home when they got there. Neither of the siblings knew anything of the problem regarding their mother, it only seemed fair to have them all together to break the news.
Behn took over by announcing, “Mom is missing.”
“What?” Valentina and Jon asked in unison.
“We found out she never returned to Tuala after her meeting here. At this point, we don’t have any idea what happened to her or where she is.” Behn’s shoulders slumped, and he felt as if someone had punched him in the gut to have to speak of their mother’s loss again in their lives.
“That’s not entirely true,” Jena spoke into the sudden silence. “Your neighbor noticed a cargo van just down the street on the day Vinia went missing.” She looked over to her mother and continued, “I think Dr. Gascon hired someone to watch this house and that he was most likely involved in Vinia’s disappearance.”
Amanda’s brain began to connect the dots until she had to admit it was a definite possibility. “How can we gather proof without bringing ourselves to Dr. Gascon’s attention just in case he isn’t involved?”
“Who’s Dr. Gascon, and why would he be watching our house?” Valentina interrupted angrily. She would personally make this doctor pay for giving them even a moment of worry if he actually were involved in her mother’s disappearance.
Amanda wished she did not have to share what she knew; however, it was only right to let them know the details. “He’s a man who has expressed an interest in interviewing me because of the length of my coma and because of the things I talked about after waking up. He also had my friend, Neal, as his patient for a while after we brought him home from Tuala. I’m afraid he has developed an interest in the people we have associated with and has begun watching them.”
“What would lead you to that conclusion?” Behn asked.
“Remember me telling you about the guy who had been watching our house who Dad had arrested?” Juila asked.
“Yes,” Behn answered slowly.
“What I didn’t tell you was that he was employed by Dr. Gascon to spy on us. He had planted bugs in our house and had a recorder set up on the edge of the property. We have no idea how long he had been listening or what he might have heard.”
“And you’re just now telling us about this?” Valentina accused.
With a sigh, Jena added, “He also put a bug in Mom’s doctor’s office as well as her doctor’s home and car. He’s definitely obsessed with our Mom. We had no idea his obsession would turn to our friends.”
“You know, I think Luke told me once that someone was lurking outside of your front gate. I thought he was just joking at the time, but maybe he was right,” Jon said suddenly.
“Do you know when that was?” Jena asked, suddenly wishing Luke could be with them for this discussion, yet knowing he needed to be kept out of it all.
“I think it was sometime around when we all went to the dance.”
Jena’s eyebrows rose, incredulous to think it had been that long ago.
“We still have the problem with getting patient information from Creedmoor without letting Dr. Gascon know we are asking,” Amanda pointed out, bringing the conversation back to her original point.
“Creedmoor?” Behn asked, turning to Amanda for an answer.
“Yes, it’s the hospital in New York where Dr. Gascon works.”
“Well, how would they have gotten Mom to New York without anyone noticing? Surely she would have put up a fight and drawn attention to herself.”
“Maybe,” Amanda paused, hating to have to point out the obvious. “Like Jena said earlier, the white cargo van could have been the perfect vehicle to pull your mom into and then drive her all the way up to New York.
Behn calculated the journey rapidly in his head before he blurted, “That drive would take at least eighteen hours! There has to be another explanation!”
“You know what, Behn, you might be onto something!” Amanda sat, too excited to remain standing. “Okay, the way I see it, as long as we suspect Dr. Gascon, then there are two scenarios that might have played out. First, he moved your mom to a facility near here and he has traveled to Florida to…speak with her.”
Amanda had immediately changed her word from ‘interrogate’ to ‘speak,’ hoping the triplets had not noticed her hesitation. They were already concerned enough for her safety to not need to know what the doctor was actually capable of doing. “Second, if he really did want her brought back to New York, then he would have had to hire a private plane to transport her. Either way, we could call around and find out if anyone knows any details which might help us.”
“Actually, Mom, I might have a better idea,” Juila chimed in. “Dad has been teaching me how
to fly his airplane here on Earth, and one of the things he mentioned was flight planning. It’s sort of the same as in the telepod except the pilot must register the flight plan with Flight Service if it’s over fifty miles from the home airport. How far is it between here and New York?” She looked over to Behn for an answer.
“It’s almost thirteen hundred miles by car, so I’d assume it’d be a couple hundred less by air.”
“Great, so definitely a flight plan would’ve been filed. We can also be fairly certain he wouldn’t have used a commercial flight since Vinia would’ve either been uncooperative or unconscious.” Juila was warming to the idea of narrowing down Dr. Gascon’s options and not really paying attention to her audience’s reaction to her brash choice of words.
Amanda nodded in agreement with Juila’s logic. “Definitely not a commercial flight since you’re required to use identification to get through security. Your mom doesn’t have any of the proper documents and I don’t think the doctor would’ve had the time or resources to have any forged.”
Jena glanced over to her mother, thinking about the documents her parents had created for her and her sister when they first arrived on Earth. They had not had to bother getting anyone to make them since their father had been able to create them from using the elemy and his mind. It was a good thing the doctor did not have access to the elemental energy or they would all be in trouble.
Valentina felt as if she needed to do something productive to help locate her mother. “I’m going to go make a list of all of the private hospitals and psychiatric facilities near here. The three of us can take turns calling each of them to find out if our mother has been admitted.”
“Good idea,” Amanda agreed. “We’re going to head home now and start looking for a flight plan. If we discover one was filed, then you won’t have to call any facilities around here because we can almost guarantee she’d be at Creedmoor.”
“True. However, I’m going to start putting the list together just in case you don’t find anything. I don’t want us to be any further behind in locating her. I’m sure Ozian is out of his mind with worry and poor Danika has never been without her mother for this long.” Valentina knew about abandonment all too well and wanted to prevent her sister from feeling the same terror.
Amanda stood up, “We’ll call you as soon as we know something. Hopefully, we can get to the bottom of this tonight!” She gestured for her daughters to come with her as she turned around to leave the triplets to their grim task. More than anything, Amanda wished Riccan were home so he could take care of everything like he always did. It was too terrifying to think her twin sister could be taken away from her just when she discovered the connection.
During the drive home, Amanda kept going over everything Copa had revealed to her in Tuala. The story had been too crazy to contemplate at the time. However, now she realized she was going to have to make some decisions. She could remain quiet about the whole thing and leave things alone, which would create a bigger mess for Juila and Behn as they got closer. Or she could tell everyone the truth and ruin Juila’s relationship with Behn.
Then there were her parents to consider, as well as her sisters. They had a right to know about Vinia’s true identity if only to ease her parents’ pain over the belief of her identical sister’s death. Then it brought up the complication of Vinia being almost ten years older than Amanda because of the initial journey through time when Lillia had taken Vinia.
“Mom, what are you thinking about?” Juila asked after watching her mother’s intense expression for the past five minutes.
“What? Oh, I just wished your father was home to take care of this mess. He’s really good at cutting through all of the red tape to get things handled.”
“What’s red tape?” Jena asked, leaning between the front seats from where she sat in the back of the SUV.
Amanda had to chuckle at her daughter’s innocent question. As smart as the girls were, they still had been raised on another world. They had no way of knowing the strange phrases which were commonly used on Earth to describe things. “It’s just another way of saying he’s good at dealing with the bureaucracy of this situation.”
“I still don’t get it,” Jena admitted.
Amanda took a deep breath, trying to come up with another way of saying it. Finally, she answered, “Your father can use his money to pay people to take care of getting this done. He can hire experts who would get this all handled faster than we could ever fumble through it ourselves. Besides, he’s grown up here for half of his life so he understands how the system works, probably even better than me!”
Juila nodded slowly as she thought through her mother’s explanation. “I sent Dad that message about Vinia. It’s possible he left work early.”
“I wouldn’t count on it. You know how impossible Ela Nena has been lately.”
“That’s not true. Dad said she’s been much better since he removed the samara planted in her office.”
“True, but she still expects more from your father than any other employee. It’s almost like she’s jealous of his happiness or something. I can’t really put my finger on it, but it’s certainly not a normal working relationship.”
Amanda pulled into their driveway and waited several seconds for their gate to swing open. The girls looked out their windows, suddenly suspicious of every person or car within sight. They had never had to worry about being spied upon when they had lived on Acaim. To say they did not appreciate the attention would have been a drastic understatement.
After parking the SUV in the garage, the three hurried into the house to get started on researching possible flights. Juila separated from the group by turning into the office so she could use the computer while Amanda and Jena continued on to the living room. Once she came into view of the large, open space, Amanda searched for her husband only to be disappointed by the emptiness.
“Mom, are you okay? You seem preoccupied with something. What did Copa tell you?”
“How did you know about Copa? Oh, of course, the link you have with Juila.” Jena nodded, confirmation of Amanda’s guess. “It’s not important right now. We need to do whatever we can to find Vinia.”
Amanda stopped at the leather couch, dropped down wearily, and began digging in her purse for her cell phone. She flipped it open, hit the speed dial, and put it up to her ear to wait for someone to answer.
“Who’re you calling?” Jena asked, seating herself next to her mother, curious to discover what was truly going on with her mother.
Amanda held up her index finger to silence Jena and said, “Hello, is Dr. Medin available? Yes, I’ll hold. Thank you.” She raised her eyebrow while she looked over to Jena as if the overheard conversation was answer enough. Seeing Jena nod approvingly, she grinned. If anyone could get information from Dr. Gascon, it was certainly Dr. Medin.
“Dr. Medin speaking. May I help you?”
“Hi, Jasmine, it’s me, Amanda.”
“Hey, Amanda, I didn’t expect to hear from you. What’s going on?”
“I’m afraid we’ve got a situation which I’m hoping you’ll be able to help with.”
“Okay, I’ll do my best. What’s up?”
“We think Dr. Gascon has managed to kidnap a woman we know from Tuala. She was visiting her children here on Earth, and she never made it back to Tuala.”
“What makes you think Dr. Gascon had anything to do with it?”
“Because a neighbor saw some men with a van hanging around outside the kids’ house on the day she went missing. Besides, it sounds like something the doctor would be involved with considering how he has persisted in wanting to interview me.”
“I see what you mean about the situation, but I still don’t understand where there’d be a connection.”
“Probably because Vinia looks exactly like me, only ten years older.”
“Ah! Yes, then I could begin to understand how Gascon would be interested. What would you like me to do?”
“Well, as
a doctor, could you call over to Creedmoor to find out if she had been admitted?”
“Sure, I could give it a try. What’s her full name?”
“It’s just Vinia. She doesn’t have a last name.”
“Okaaay. Let me make a few phone calls, and I’ll get back to you, hopefully, tonight, since I know you’re worried about your friend.”
“Thanks, Jasmine.”
Amanda flipped the phone closed, knowing her former doctor would do her best to help, especially since Jasmine had a history with Dr. Gascon. Jasmine knew what he was capable of doing to his patients, so she recognized the urgency in gaining information.
“That was good thinking, Mom,” Jena spoke as soon as the call ended.
“Yeah, I just hope we’re wrong about Dr. Gascon’s involvement. That man is sadistic, and I’d hate to think that Vinia had been in his hands for three days. You have no idea what he’s capable of, Jena, and I hope you never find out.”
“That bad, huh?”
“Worse!”
Both of them jumped when two things happened simultaneously, Riccan came down the stairs and called out to them, and Juila yelled from the office.
“Riccan!” Amanda cried out as she jumped up from the couch to run over and hug him. “I didn’t know you were home. I’m so glad, come with me,” she said urgently as she grabbed his hand and began hauling him across the foyer to get into the office to find out what Juila had discovered.
“What’s going on?” Riccan asked even as he followed after his wife, he turned to give a puzzled look over to his daughter, who had jumped up from the couch to join them on their way to the office.
Chapter Three
“JUILA’S DISCOVERED SOMETHING, it seems,” Jena answered cryptically. She already knew the answer to her father’s question, but she knew Juila would want to give the news.
“News of what? Is this about Vinia?” Riccan waited for an answer even though it appeared his questions would remain unanswered until they heard what Juila had to say.
Ascension Watchers Page 2