Eden and I follow Lyle into Dad’s office. My father comes in too, shutting the door behind him after he asks the officers to give us some privacy, and they step outside.
The man has his head hanging down. “Won’t you please look up at me,” Eden requests.
The man shakes his head. It doesn’t detour Eden though. “You have done my family a great wrong. I would like an explanation for why you’ve done this.”
The man shakes his head again. His wavy brown hair bounces as he does it. I feel this man has much sorrow in him. I move towards him slowly, feeling compelled to touch his head. I slowly reach out to touch him.
Eden looks at me. I stop for a second, and then he nods. I place my hand on the top of the man’s head.
My mind is suddenly filled with his memories. It’s as if I’m him. I’m looking into dark brown eyes with dark circles underneath them. Her hair is brown and messed up, like she just woke up.
My chest pounds as Brady reaches out to touch her. Her shoulder has a big bruise on it. Brady leans to kiss it.
“Does that make it any better, Karen?” I hear his voice say.
The girl smiles. “Yes Brady.”
I hear a door open, then it slams against the wall. “Get the hell away from her,” a gruff voice calls out.
Brady turns, and I see Darren Stiles coming at him, he has a baseball bat. Darren’s eyes are red, and he’s sweaty. A small amount of spit hangs from his bottom lip as he must be so angry he’s practically foaming at the mouth. The smell of stale cigarette smoke, and dirty socks fills the air as he gets closer.
“No, Dad, please don’t. I love him!” the girl screams.
“You don’t know what love is you little slut. He doesn’t love you, who could love someone like you. You’re a whore, not worth a penny!” he yells, then he swings at Brady with the bat.
Brady moves quickly, avoiding contact with the bat. “I should kill you for what you’ve done to her, you sadistic freak!” Brady yells.
“What did she tell you?” Stiles demands.
“How you beat her and rape her every chance you get!” Brady yells at him as he moves to stand in front of the crying girl who sits on the bed.
“She’s a liar, you need to leave so I can deal with her,” Stiles tells him in an unbelievably calm voice. “She’s sick in the head, boy. You can’t believe anything she says.”
Brady isn’t buying it. “I’m taking her with me. You need to leave her alone. Forget you have a daughter,” Brady tells him as he takes the girl’s hand, pulling her out the door with him.
Suddenly the scene changes, Brady is going into a small white house. “Karen, I’m back,” he says, as he walks into the kitchen.
“Karen?” he calls out as he walks into the bedroom.
“Karen?” he yells as he begins to panic, calling her name over and over as he runs through the house, and out the backdoor.
He returns to the house, opening the closet to see if her things are still there. Most of them are gone. Empty hangers and one black sweater is all that’s in the closet. He reaches out, taking the sweater down, and a paper falls out of the pocket.
Asshole,
I need a favor from you as you work for the bastards who fucked my daughter and me over.
I want you to get me into that house
If you refuse, then I will kill Karen
You have until tonight to get me the information I want:
The code to get into the gate
A map that shows me how to get to the newlyweds’ rooms
And a picture of any windows or balconies that enter their rooms
Leave this information in your mailbox and I will pick it up tonight
Brady shakes his head and starts to cry. He picks up the phone to call someone, only to slam it back down.
“I can’t do this, I can’t do this to them,” he yells.
He leaves the house, getting into his car. He drives to an old trailer house and gets out. Stiles comes out of the shabby trailer.
“Why did you come here? You must want her dead,” Stiles yells at him.
“I don’t have any of the information you want,” Brady lies. “I’m buzzed in at the gate, and I stay in the kitchen. I can’t help you. So just let me take Karen.”
Stiles gets a smile on his round red face. “I guess you better go find that stuff out then, because I’m keeping her until you do. As a matter of fact, you have until nine tonight to get me that information or you can look for her on the street,” Stiles informs him.
Brady shoves Stiles to the ground, and runs into the house, calling out Karen’s name. Suddenly Stiles is behind him. His demeanor is unbelievably calm for someone who just got shoved to the ground. He’s still smiling.
He sneers at Brady. “You must think I’m an idiot. She isn’t here. Now go get what I want.”
Brady goes back to his car and drives away. I can actually feel the pain in his chest. Random thoughts are running through his mind. He’s torn between his allegiance to us and his love for her.
The scene changes again, it’s dark, a light goes off as his cell phone buzzes on the table beside his bed. “Hello?” he says.
“This is Doctor Jones at the Pendleton Memorial Methodist Hospital in New Orleans, I’m looking for Brady Mathews,” a voice tells him over the phone.
“That’s me.”
“A Karen Stiles has asked me to call you. She was raped and beaten, then left for dead in an alley, in town. She said she needs to talk to you,” the doctor tells him.
“Okay, can you put her on the phone?”
“Brady?” Karen says, weakly.
“Karen, oh my God! What did he do to you?”
“Brady, it was bad. I don’t know what he asked you to do, but can you please do it? He told me to tell you if you don’t get it done he’ll come to the hospital and kill me.”
“Okay Karen, I will. Get better, you hear me. I love you. I’ll come see you soon.”
“I love you too, Brady. Please just do what he asks.”
He turns the light on, and writes the code to the gate, draws a map of the house, putting an x on our rooms and on the balcony doors, then walks outside, placing it in his mailbox.
I pull my hand away from his head. Slowly I go to my knees in front of him. I take his chin in my hand, bringing his face up to look at me. His eyes are void of any expression. It’s as if a major piece of his soul is gone.
“Brady, I forgive you. I won’t let them do anything to you. Now please talk to us, so we can stop this man,” I tell him.
As I stand up, he keeps his eyes on mine. “You forgive me?” he asks, hoarsely. “Why would you ever do that?”
“You would’ve never done this on your own. He made you do it. You felt you had no other choice. You couldn’t see him kill Karen. I wish you would’ve come to us in the beginning, as we could’ve helped you and her before this happened. Now please tell us how he came to know what Eden and I are?”
“I didn’t know he knew that. That’s terrible. He must’ve overheard us talking in the kitchen when he snuck into the mansion that morning. My only contact with him after I left the note was yesterday when he called me. I guess he follows me because he called my cell phone right after I got here yesterday. He told me I had to get him in here, or he would kill Karen. I’m so sorry. You don’t know how sorry I am. I have to be punished for what I’ve done. Don’t drop the charges, I must pay for my crimes against you,” he begs me.
I hold my hand out to Eden, sharing with him what I saw in Brady’s mind. “There will be no charges, Brady. My wife and I forgive you. You’ve already suffered, as I feel your heart is heavy for what’s happened to Karen. I want you to move forward with your life with her. We’re going to make sure she gets better. The two of you should live a happy life from here on out. Once she’s had counseling, if you so wish it, she can join our organization,” Eden tells him.
My father opens the door. “You can take the cuffs off of him now, officer. There’ll
be no charges pressed on him,” he tells them.
They look surprised, but do as my father has told them to. They look at Eden and me. I guess to be sure this is something we really want. I nod my head, yes at them. They turn and leave as Lyle walks them out.
Brady rubs his wrists. “I can’t thank you enough, Mr. and Mrs. Fontaine. What can I do to help you catch him? I’ll do anything.”
“You need to let him know you can deliver my wife to him,” Eden states, shocking us all.
“Have you thought this through, Eden?” my father asks, with concern.
“Not entirely, sir, no,” he answers truthfully. “I just know we have to take control of this situation. He wants Alyssa, so we need to use that information to catch him. Brady can trick him into thinking Alyssa is going somewhere by herself, or going to be here by herself. Stiles will try to get to her if he thinks that. Only, she won’t really be alone. With your help, and everyone else’s, sir, we can figure this all out.”
Dad claps Eden on the shoulder. “Then I guess it’s time for us to brainstorm,” Dad tells us as he motions for us to follow him.
As we walk into the living room I see Kyle and Laura sitting side by side on the sofa. Our mothers sit across from them on the other sofa. Kyle stands up when we enter the room. He’s looking at Brady, then he looks at my father.
“What’s he doing out of cuffs and still here?” Kyle demands to know.
Eden looks at me. “Alyssa, maybe it would be best if you take Kyle and Laura upstairs while we work this out.”
Kyle sends me, ‘Let him know I’ll not be shut out of this, Ally. You take Laura up, and I’ll stay down here. I have to be in on this. Your safety is my number one priority.’
I look up at Eden, and say, “Let Kyle help out, babe. I’ll take Laura up. Come on Laura, let’s go upstairs.”
As we reach the top of the stairs, Laura pulls me to my room, shutting the door behind us. “Ally, why do you think you can trust that guy, I mean he gave the freak all the information he needed to get to you?”
“This is hard to explain,” I tell her. “I can tell he was forced to give Stiles the information. Brady is the boyfriend of Karen Stiles. Darren Stiles told him he had to get him into our house, or he would kill her. Apparently he told Brady to give him the information by a certain time. When Brady didn’t get him the information by his timetable, Stiles raped and beat his daughter almost to the point of death. He actually meant to leave her alive, just barely, so he still had something to hold over Brady’s head. That’s what he’s been doing, and he’ll keep doing that until he finally gets me.”
Laura throws her arms up in the air as she paces around my bedroom. “How in the hell can you be so gullible? You can’t believe a word the guy says. Of course he’s going to say he was blackmailed. It’s like, step one when you get caught, blame someone else.”
Crap, this is so much harder to get her to believe. I wish I could just tell her I have this gift, but I can’t.
I sit on my bed and look out the window. “I see where you’re coming from, Laura. I really do, but these people are a lot savvier about the ways of the world than we are. I have complete faith in them, and my husband, so I’m ready to do whatever it is they come up with, I trust them that much.”
Laura sits next to me, sliding her arm around my shoulders. “I’m not positive these people have your best interest in mind. I’ve thought some brainwashing might be going on. I’ve done a lot of research on this Phoenix Foundation they’re so big in, and that you and Eden are going to a part of. Ally. A couple committed suicide or something like that about the same time as you got married. Apparently they were long-standing members of the Phoenix Foundation. Their obituary said the husband died, followed minutes later by his wife. Al that crap doesn’t happen.”
Man, this is getting harder and harder not to tell her, I can’t though.
“I heard about that too,” I say as I take her hand in mine. “It turns out they were old, like really old, and just like a weird fluke they died like that. I haven’t been brainwashed in any way.”
“This foundation is more like a religious cult in my eyes, Al,” Laura throws at me. “Have they made you attend any meetings or anything at all?”
“No, I haven’t been made to attend any meetings,” I say with a slight laugh. “This is a great organization. These people help so many hungry children, even building schools in third world countries.”
Laura rolls her eyes. “I’m aware of all the good they do. Are you aware the members of this foundation never leave it? Once they join, they never leave, not any of them, Ally. That’s not normal.”
Wow, this just keeps getting harder. What can you not find on the internet?
“Well, who would want to quit an organization that does so much good?” I ask.
Laura squeezes my hand and looks straight into my eyes. “Al, you have a quick answer for everything I tell you. That’s kinda crazy, cause it’s exactly what people in cults do.”
Boy, she’s making this so ridiculously hard.
I give her a wide smile. “Okay, how about this? You’re here to see everything that happens. I’m asking you to stay awhile and see what goes on. Then you can make the decision if I’m in danger or not.”
“That’s exactly why I accepted your invitation, Ally. I’m not going to stand by while something crazy or terrible happens to you. I love you.”
Her words bring tears to my eyes.
How can I leave her in the dark like this? The freaking rituals, I can’t put her through that. It’s bad enough Kyle had to go through them. I can’t let Laura go through anything near what we did.
“I love you very much. Like you, will probably never know how much,” I say as I hug her tight to me. “You’ll be here with me. If you see anything which seems cultish, then point it out to me. Now I’m going to need you to help me take care of this situation, but only if you want to.”
“Hell yeah, I’m going to help you take care of this situation, Ally,” Laura says as we release one another. “Once Kyle told me someone was stalking you, there was no holding me back. I won’t let anyone hurt you. Not anything that’s happened between us will stop me from caring about you.”
In an instant all I can think about is asking her to join our organization. If she could just know about us things would be so much better.
“Laura, perhaps you and Kyle could join The Phoenix Foundation. Better to be on the inside when checking into something, don’t you think?” I ask.
Her eyes narrow. “I’d have to discuss it with Kyle. I’m not sure it would be the right thing to do at this point.”
Okay, she’s clearly not ready.
Eden walks in. “Okay, you both should come downstairs now. We’ve come up with something which involves you,” he tells us.
We follow him down the stairs and see Scotty has even been brought into it. Something I’m not happy with. I don’t want anything to happen to him. I don’t want anything to happen to anybody.
Eden leads us to sit directly across from our fathers, and Kyle. I hold Eden’s hand tightly, as I find I am getting pretty nervous. Then I notice Brady isn’t here and so does Laura.
“Where’s that guy?” Laura asks Eden.
“He’s been taken home, so he can start to contact Stiles,” Eden says as he motions for us to sit. “We’re hoping Stiles will see he’s been released and try to contact him again. Once he’s made contact with him, he’s going to let us know, and then our part of the plan will begin.”
Lyle takes our attention as he adds, “We’ve decided it’s improbable we can get Stiles to come here again. We need to do this out in the open. The three of you will take a trip into town, to go to the New Orleans zoo.”
Dad continues where Lyle left off. “We all feel he’s much more likely to think he can get to you in a place like that. Although the three of you will arrive together, the rest of us will arrive there a bit later. So he’ll not see us all together and get suspicious. We�
�ll flank you on each side so you’re never alone, but at times you will appear to be.”
Lyle takes our attention again as he says, “Once he’s taken the bait, that’s you Alyssa, then we will all come in on him at once. Our security team will be there as well to make sure he doesn’t get away.”
My father adds. “He will not be taken to the police station, as we feel he might get out, and we can’t have that. Instead our security team will take him to a mental institution in Alaska where he’ll never be released.”
Laura looks at Kyle across the room, and asks, “Who is the three they’re talking about, Kyle?”
“Me, Ally, and Eden,” he answers.
She looks at me. “Ally, I want to come too. I didn’t come all this way to not help you.”
I look at Eden, and send, ‘Is that going to work, if she doesn’t come? I don’t want anyone in danger that isn’t essential for this plan to work out.’
Eden’s hands go running through his hair as flashes of his dream flow through his mind, and out to mine. Her role seems to have been played out already. She was supposed to be with me at the swimming pool, and she was.
He has to come up with something to tell Laura though, so he says, “Kyle feels strongly about you staying here, Laura. He doesn’t want you in any danger.”
Laura looks at Kyle. “I feel like I should go, though.”
Kyle rises and comes to her, taking her by the hand, he lifts her up, and puts his arm around her shoulders, pulling her close to him. “Laura, please just do what I ask. I can’t see both of you in danger. My mind will stay more focused if I don’t have to worry about you too. I love you, you know,” he tells her.
Eden takes my hand and gives it a squeeze as a sharp pain stabs at my heart with his confession of love for another.
A slight blush covers her cheeks. “Well, when you put it that way. I would feel terrible if something happened to you because you got distracted because of me,” she concedes.
“So that’s settled,” my father says. “Laura you can help Scotty here, then. He’ll be tracking us all and keeping us updated about where everyone’s at. We gave Brady a tracking device that we hope he can put on Stiles somehow if he’s able to actually see him. The chances of that are slim though, so we’ll tap into the surveillance cameras at the zoo as well. It may take both of you to keep track of everyone, plus keep us informed.”
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