“People…Dell…”
“That’s why I chose this corner table in the back, babe…because when I wanted to do this, I wanted to ignore the visitors,” he gripped her ass, lifting her body slightly against him. “But I’m seriously a glutton for punishment at the moment because I can feel the stays of whatever you bought on your ribs and holding your breasts up. I can feel those tight, hard little nipples trying to catch my attention and I can damn well feel how hot you are right now. So…” he slowly released her, adjusted his jeans and dragged a long, slow breath into his lungs.
“You don’t mind people staring?” Tasha straightened her dress, smoothing down the fabric and refusing to look up when he laughed. “I know…I shouldn’t care…I must be part prude…”
“I haven’t found that part yet,” Dell teased, sliding next to her and easing them back into the main area to explore and mingle. “I’ll have to do some research later.”
“You do that,” she laughed, her head bouncing to the side against his shoulder. “I know some of the people here…from work…”
Her feet skidded to an abrupt stop, two hands up and gripping his arm as she slipped behind him.
“Tasha?”
“It’s him, Dell,” she whispered, going to the side and keeping her gaze on the younger man dressed in black preacher attire. “From the ruins in Utah. Do you think he’s looking for Molly? Oh, god, we’ve got to find her and Jonathon!”
“Natasha, don’t move,” Dell stood still. He could feel her hands against his sides. “Now carefully scan what you can see. I don’t see Molly or Jonathon. But I do see your boss,” he said quietly, raising one hand and tipping his hat slightly forward, shading his face in the already dimly lit room. He reached behind him, pulling her to his left side. He was big enough to shield most of her from anyone on the right of him.
“No,” Tasha gripped his arm, both hands biting into the muscle. “Look. Richard Hamilton.”
Both stood still, watching the men nod at one another and stride off toward the far end of the room.
Tasha moved from his side, ignoring the sputtering and looping her arm with Cassidy’s. “Let’s walk…this way…” she shook her head when Cassidy opened her mouth, the skirt of the Annie Oakley outfit she wore swishing around her calves as they walked. Alert eyes met the gaze Tasha offered with a little twitch of her head. “It’s the guy who was following me in Utah…and the other one, his name is Richard Hamilton.”
“I heard from Delon about how you got that information. I just saw Molly and Jonathon leaving the dining area and go into the dance room,” Cassidy told her, keeping her voice down and expression neutral. “We still don’t know what they want with her.”
“Well…you know…” Tasha pulled in a deep breath, straightened her shoulders and smiled, ignoring the two males that had trailed behind them. “Like they say in the movies, cover me.”
“Tasha…”
She heard Cassidy’s voice, listened to the censure and kept moving quickly. She dodged a few people and gripped the preacher’s arm.
“Excuse me? I think I met you in Utah!” Tasha gushed loudly, glancing over at the man dressed as a simple cowboy. “And you…weren’t you in the resort yesterday? You lost your wallet and thought I might have it…what was your name again? Isn’t it really strange that you know one another? All the way from Utah? Is that where you live?” She asked brightly, gazing at Richard Hamilton.
“I…I think I should go…” Todd Melville took a step back until Tasha gripped his wrist.
“Why? I didn’t know you were from this area. I thought you lived in Utah. By that old school,” Tasha kept staring at him. “I found a list in city records of the people that were supposed to have died in the fire. But no girl with your last name. The man in city hall knew exactly who you were, though.” She turned her attention to Richard Hamilton. “Did you have someone in the school, too? Is that how you know Todd?” Her voice filled with sorrow. “Did you lose someone in the fire? I am so sorry…”
“You’ve made a mistake,” Hamilton informed her stiffly, taking two steps back. “I just met this man a few minutes ago and we were discussing the event.”
“Really? Then you haven’t been stalking around the WindSwept Narrows for the last month with James Harrison?” Tasha wasn’t sure where she was going, but she let her voice flatten, her tone accusative. “We have you on video…and now we have a name. I think it’s really curious and I’ve asked the police to do a background check, just to make sure the employees and guests are safe.”
“You’ve made a mistake, bitch,” Richard Hamilton took a step toward her until he seemed to realize he had a lot of attention focused on him.
“You aren’t old enough to have been involved in the first school,” Tasha continued thoughtfully, leaning closer and squinting. “Or maybe you are…Todd was probably about eight…maybe nine…but you…maybe seventeen…a little older…and Harrison is using you both for something he wants…where do you work now? Harrison isn’t his real name, is it? Is he hiding from someone?”
Tasha stopped, thinking of her own words. Sometimes the best way to see additional paths, was to just ramble. She stumbled back when both men turned quickly and pushed their way toward the exit.
“He’s hiding from someone…and worried there are loose ends,” she said softly to herself. “I have to find out his real name.”
“Tasha! Are you nuts!” Molly shoved and toggled between people until she was grabbing up Tasha’s arm and pulling her toward the back.
“What’s your real name, Molly. Your real last name,” Tasha pulled them both to a stop when she dug in her heels, watching Cassidy, Dell, Mac and Jonathon closing around them.
“Stedman,” Molly whispered the name she hadn’t said aloud in over two decades, a film of tears coating her eyes and making her blink.
“Do you know any of your other relatives? Do you absolutely know where your parents are? Your grandparents?” Tasha paced in a tight little path. “No one goes to this much trouble after twenty years. Except someone who did a lot of incredibly illegal things…or family.”
“I never met any of them,” Molly was pushed into a chair, Jonathon found a tall, icy water glass and pressing it into her hands. “I kind of know my parents live outside Sacramento…”
“But you’re not sure,” Tasha murmured to herself, continuing her pacing. “Cassidy…”
“Followed the guys you confronted,” Dell told her when her head popped up and she looked around.
“I don’t think this is so much about you…well, it is about you…as it is tying up loose ends…I have to find out who else was in the school when you were,” Tasha raised both hands, about to grab at her head and remembered her hair wasn’t free and gripped her shoulders instead. She bent her head and tried visioning all the information she had gathered. “Which means they’re covering their tracks…to either prevent anyone from really finding the past, or…to keep them from finding the now.”
“I have a disc,” Molly said very softly. “I haven’t looked at it or even…even tried opening it since…since I ran, though. We worked so hard to get everyone out…to make sure they were ready and we had places and people helping us…”
“A disc of what…” Tasha stopped moving and faced Molly. “Where?”
“At my unit…the apartment,” she pushed herself to her feet. “Let’s go and I’ll give it to you. I should have given it to you before, I’m sorry. I really just wanted to…to run again…to keep it all buried.”
“We’ll meet you at the resort,” Dell told the couple as they walked from the event, his hand locked firmly around Tasha’s waist. He gazed down at her now and then as they walked, but the little frown told him she was puzzling through the information she didn’t have. “You scared the bejesus out of us.”
“Sorry,” to her credit, a little wince creased her face. “Sometimes you have to push your limits…and others…”
“Cassidy wasn’t happy…but she stopped
me from pulling you back,” Dell admitted slowly, stopping at the elevator and watching her.
“It’s always the things you don’t know. The little things that don’t make sense at first…and they might not actually make sense later, to me or you…” Tasha shook her head. “I didn’t mean to worry you…any of you…but when a situation gives me an opening, I’m going to take it. I spent enough time telling others how to research person to person, the theory is in my head and it’s well past time it was put to use.”
“By confronting people without knowing the possible reaction?”
“If that’s what it takes, yes. Saying the things I did…not only made them react, physically so I could see, but it also opened things in my head for new paths, new reasons for their behaviors. I think they’re worried Molly will remember something that would be a problem…but I’m not sure for whom…” Tasha stepped into the elevator, vaguely offering a smile to people passing and joining them.
“Secrets that come to light aren’t always a good thing for people,” Dell commented carefully, turning to the side and pulling her against him.
“People contain things for a lot of reasons,” Tasha shrugged. “I’m not talking about mild, simple embarrassing stuff we do as kids. Whatever this is, they are worried about people uncovering it…so that smacks of some kind of personal gain that would be lost. If you follow the logic of it…of course, there’s always the chance that it’s completely illogical,” she groaned softly. “Humans…why would you hide things from the past? Monetary issues or reputation come to mind first.”
“You’re hiding or preserving your reputation from business or personal contacts,” Dell continued thoughtfully. “Like a politician…”
“Something as simple as a spouse…I don’t see that so much because it’s easy enough to say the other person is after money or spotlight…that’s easy enough to talk your way out of,” Tasha shook her head. “But substantial money or reputation…especially considering the latest political nuts out there. Involvement in something like the academy would make a serious dent in your popularity or with family members…a prenup when your marriage is already teetering…wills and trusts left to you…I don’t know…I’m just thinking out loud,” she told him, shivering as they waited at the curb for the truck to be brought from the parking area.
“I did some stupid things as a teenager and even older, but to hold onto it for twenty years?” Dell lifted her into the front seat, handed the valet some cash and crossed in front of the truck to slide behind the wheel.
“I’m not so sure they were holding onto it as much as it never was really let go,” she pondered, chewing on her lip in thought. “Molly says she worked to make sure as many got out as possible…I also think a lot of the town probably knew about them, but kept it all quiet. It wouldn’t surprise me if some of them still lived in the town itself, afraid to leave.”
“An entire town keeping a secret?” His tone held the dubious note she felt inside herself.
“Not easy…but it’s not that big and there might have been an incentive,” Tasha shrugged, her fingers tapping lightly on the seatbelt that crossed her body. She gestured to the far left road when they passed beneath the huge stone entrance way to the resort parking area. “Follow to the left and the employee housing,” she opened the small crocheted bag she had looped around her neck and pulled her badge free.
“Evening, sir…miss…” the man accepted the badge and ran a reader over it. “Miss Banks. Dr. Fielding left your name and the name of your escort. Do you know where her unit is?”
“Yes, thank you,” Tasha accepted the badge back and the temp pass for the windshield.
“Have a good night,” the man told them, gesturing for the gate to be opened.
“We know where to park?” Dell asked, angling one brow patiently.
“Oh…sorry…yeah…out that way, far right. I’m glad it’s not pouring and it’s really warm tonight,” she slipped to the ground once the truck stopped and crossed in front to take his hand. “Thank you. You’re being very patient about this…about my job.”
“Since I’m a pretty smart guy, I know it’s a big part of you,” he twined their fingers and chirped the truck. “Made that mistake a long time ago.”
“Not liking a girl’s job?” Tasha asked absently.
“Not respecting her job…and it was my sister…I can’t claim to have been smart enough to pay attention until I got a strong smack upside the head one afternoon when she was home visiting.”
Chapter Thirty-One
Like at the resort, Jonathon stood with the door open to the apartment. His gaze remained mostly inside, watching the blonde pace. Two brightly colored red and yellow feathers bobbed with each long legged stride across the open space of the main area of the apartment.
“I’m sorry, Jonathon,” Tasha winced at the dark expression on his face. “I didn’t mean to…”
“You don’t owe anyone apologies,” Molly declared, striding to the door and taking her friend’s hand. “Inside. And I’ve decided my apologies…well, never mind that. For now, I want to dig into my memories and see what you can help with.”
Molly led her to the dining area and lifted a double zip-locked small bag from the table.
Tasha closed one eye and took the bag. “Well…I’ll definitely have to dig out some old stuff from my storage unit. Tomorrow…” she tucked the three inch disc into the little purse she had looped around her neck and leaned into one of the breakfast stools. “You kept these since…for twenty years?’
“I made copies of everything on the computer that I thought important. Mostly names and addresses…and there’s another file with personal information. I haven’t looked at it since then,” Molly went back to pacing before the double glass patio doors. “I haven’t wanted to look at it. I tucked it away and ran until I couldn’t see or feel or think. I didn’t sleep or eat for days,” she whispered, her eyes closed and memories flowing past her mental vision like a slow turning reel in an old-fashioned theatre.
“Molly…” Jonathon clenched his hands into tight fists. She’d told him to let her talk. To not stop her and not interfere. She had to talk and this was a safe venue for that. So why didn’t he feel so safe at the moment?
“Paper and pens?” Tasha asked quietly, going in the direction Molly pointed. Of course. The desk with the laptop on it. She found a notebook and some empty pages, pen out and tapping on her jaw. “This is either personal or professional. They want something and you’re the center, Molly. Either something you know, something you remember or something you could bring to light and jeopardize their existence. We don’t know which at this point, though. It can’t be because they want your brilliant mind,” she smiled at the little laugh. “Because we know there is nothing that could blackmail you into working for them,” she paused, glancing hopefully toward Molly’s back. “Right?”
“You mean aside from destroying their facility and killing people in that destruction?” Molly returned dryly. “Oh, no, nothing at all to be blackmailed over.”
“Okay, aside from that,” Tasha agreed mildly. “Your parents gave you to them with your own name?”
“Yes…the log on the disc has columns. Original names and changed names. That made most of us into Smith or Jones. Not real original, but I don’t think they ever intended for us to leave there until we were old enough to move into one of their selected companies to work for. There was even a file drawer with completed files of new documents…everything from birth certificates to passports and shot records. I found the original documents, though, and had them patched up with the kids before I…while I was making the plan.”
“You had something worked up to get people out,” Tasha prompted.
“Some kids you could trust,” Molly answered softly. “Some…maybe I should have just gone on my own. I’ve replayed it a hundred times in dreams. For some of the kids, that place was a dozen times better than what they had before. Who gave me the right to take it away from them?
” She exhaled and let herself lean into the arms that had somehow come behind her. “But if I left the facility, they’d just get more kids…for some reason, it didn’t dawn on me that they would just rebuild somewhere else, if not there.”
“But they didn’t know all the real names,” Tasha said, thinking out loud.
“No, they didn’t. Some parents took cash, dropped the kids off and took the kids word for what their name was. Some of the kids were just glad to be someplace else than they were used to living. Isabel…” Molly felt the shudder racing through her and get absorbed by the strong arms surrounding her. “Her uncle knew she was different. Her parents had told him because they were proud of her…when they died and her aunt died almost in the same month…he couldn’t wait to sell her to the highest bidder. I’m not sure they ever knew her real name because the file, real and made up, were identical. There were several like that, though. Sometimes I wondered if they kidnapped the kids, but…there were only a few who didn’t want to be there after a while. Isabel didn’t want to be there right from the first, but she wasn’t given a choice. I think it’s why we got along…we both knew something was wrong, but weren’t mature enough to know what was really going on.”
“I know they look different…” Tasha began slowly. “But did you see the two guys tonight? One of them was with Harrison when they approached you. The other one…he was at the ruins when I went on my research. I think they were part of the student body when you were there, Molly.”
“That’s a guess,” Jonathon said carefully, reluctantly opening his arms and releasing Molly so she could look at Tasha. She tipped her head, considering what had been said.
“He wasn’t a student,” she began slowly. “He was one of the orderlies. I think he was nineteen when he started working with the kids on the psychic side of the building. The younger one…it was so long ago…and he would have been eight?” She sighed. “People recognize me because of the hair. I could have changed it and did for a while. It got so…annoying…but he’s…” She shrugged. “Regular looking…I don’t know, Tasha. I honestly can’t remember.”
WindSwept Narrows: #23 Molly & Natasha Page 27