No longer worried about Luke sleeping, she continued to type and grumble loudly. In a few minutes, a sleepy Luke stumbled into the room, bare chested with his boxers slung low over his hips. Rubbing a hand through his hair, causing it to stick straight up, he yawned.
“What the hell are you working on this late?”
She whirled around in her seat, taking in his appearance for the first time. Unable to resist, she stood and placed a kiss on his lips as he wrapped his arms around her. She showed him the message and her attempts to find the sender. “What do you think it means?”
He sat down at the chair and began to work as well, but was unable to break their code. Staring at her, he said, “I have no idea, babe. But we need to meet tomorrow, and I think Agatha’s going to have to come in as well.”
As they shut the computer down and walked back to bedroom, Luke chuckled. Seeing her lifted eyebrow, he said, “Now you know what it was like for me, when you were helping me by sending cryptic messages. I couldn’t figure out who you were and it drove me crazy.”
Pinching his naked waist, she darted ahead toward the bedroom, with him fast on her heels.
26
Once more, Agatha found herself standing in the standing in the living room of Jack and Bethany’s house. This time, Bethany was in the kitchen, bustling about, finishing up with a fresh batch of muffins. After making sure everyone had access to them, she walked over to Jack, standing up on her toes as he gave her a tender kiss. Agatha watched the two embrace before Bethany tossed a wave of her hand at the rest of them.
“I’ve got another wedding at the cabins to work on, so I’ll take the kids with me.”
She and the Saints soon settled around the living room, but unlike last time, this time she felt that she was among friends, which soothed her. Jack nodded toward Charlie, giving her the floor.
“I received an email message last night,” Charlie began, “and I confess it’s so well encrypted I was unable to trace who sent it, where it was sent from, or even when it was sent.”
Luke piped up, “As you can imagine, this sent my wife into a tizzy.”
“Hmph,” she groused. “I’d hardly call it a tizzy. But, the point is, I need for you to look at the message, Agatha, and give us any idea what it means.”
All of the Saints looked at the message on their tablets, and she leaned over to peer at the tablet in Nathan’s hand. Reading, her eyes widened in bewilderment. Shaking her head slowly, she said, “I don’t know what it means.”
Jack, his voice gentle asked, “Agatha, can you trust us enough to tell us everything that happened with Harlan?”
She immediately sucked in her lips, doubt flashing through her eyes. Sensing her unease, Nathan twisted around to stare at her.
“What? What is it you haven’t told us?”
“Please understand,” she begged, “Harlan told me very little. And he always warned me not to talk to anyone about my situation. I know I can trust you, but his lessons were ingrained in me for my own protection.”
“It appears that you’ve had another kind of protection all along,” Jack commented.
Continuing to shake her head, she explained, “I had no idea someone was looking after me.”
Nathan, a flash of jealousy jolting through him, said, “I’d like to know who the fuck has had their eyes on her.”
Agatha cut her eyes to him, seeing the tense set of his jaw. Sucking in her lips again, a nervous habit, she focused on calming the nerves hitting her stomach. Oh, Harlan, what would you want me to do? Sitting up straighter, it struck her that she already had the answer to that question. It was time for her to rely on herself…Harlan was no longer able to look after her and she needed to make her own decisions.
Blowing out a deep breath, she chose to share all she knew, trusting the Saints with her safety and Nathan with her heart. Reaching out to place her hand in his, she began, “The night I was picked up, I was taken to a house, but I don’t know where it was. A very nice lady, who I assumed was an FBI agent, stayed with me. She told me that I’d be there until Harlan took charge. He was only in the hospital for two days, and as soon as he was released, he came to see me there. Within two weeks, he knew that I was not going to need to testify against my family, because the FBI had enough evidence to put them away for a long time. Sometime during the third week, he came to pick me up from that house, taking me to his house.”
“His house?” Nathan asked, his jaw tight with anger. “Why the hell did he take you to his house?”
Shrugging, she said, “He only said it was for my protection. I was very naïve, and asked very little about what was happening with my family. I knew that they were being charged and, I assumed, with the evidence against them, they were not going to go to trial. Instead, either pleading guilty or making some kind of plea bargain. I was with Harlan for the next year.”
She noted the raised eyebrows from most of the men in the room and could feel the ire rolling off of Nathan. “I’m sorry, but I guess I don’t see why everyone seems so angry.”
“Let’s just continue with your story,” Jack prodded gently. “The more information we have at our fingertips the better.”
“Harlan was very kind to me. He treated me as though I was his daughter, with dignity and respect. Something, I assure you, I had not been given by the men in my family. He told me that I would need to have a new identity. I went along with all of his suggestions, trusting him implicitly. He took me to a salon early one morning, before they opened for business, and told the stylist that I was his daughter and wanted something completely different. My hair was quite long, so she dyed it blonde with highlights and cut it to my shoulders, sleeking it so that the waves were gone, leaving silky, straight hair in their place. He arranged for me to have the colored contacts but did not want me to go from dark brown to blue.”
“Why was that?” Charlie asked. “Wouldn’t blue have been a more striking difference?”
Nodding, she answered, “That’s what I thought, too, but he said blue eyes tend to capture more attention, and he didn’t want anyone to have reason to stare at me. So, he said the lighter brown, almost amber, colored contacts would be best. That was also why he went with a darker blonde hair color, instead of a bright yellow.”
Nathan recognized that Harlan had a good plan, but still felt an irrational jealousy.
“Continue, please,” Jack said, his sharp eyes on Agatha.
“Well, I guess the next thing was my nose. I had a bump along the bridge. He told me that I was going to have surgery on my nose and, once more, trusting him, I just said, ‘Okay’. We went out one night, after dark, and drove to an old, brick building. I confess that I was nervous, but went inside and met with the doctor.”
Throwing her hand up in front of her, she said, “Before you ask me where I was, or what he looked like, all I can tell you is that I have no idea where we went. The doctor had dark hair and blue eyes, but he wore a hospital mask and a lab coat. He gave me a shot that put me to sleep and, when I woke up, it was the next day and I was back in my bedroom at Harlan’s house. I had a bandage on my nose, some bruising and swelling, but was given pain pills for a few days and recuperated just fine.”
“This sounds like something from the fucking Twilight Zone,” Bart said, shaking his head.
Nathan could feel the tension radiating through Agatha. Lifting his hand, placed it on her shoulder, rubbing gently, to ease the knots he felt in her muscles.
“After a week, the bandages came off my nose, and I noticed that it was a little narrower and the bump was gone. While I had been asleep, they must’ve made a mold of my teeth as well because, by the time the bandages came off my nose, Harlan had a special retainer, kind of like the Invisalign braces you see advertised on TV, ready for me. Instead of straightening my teeth though, which were already straight, it squished my top teeth together so that now they are slightly crooked.”
“All through this, you had no other contact with other people?” Jack aske
d.
She shook her head, “No. Not during the first months that I was with Harlan. After a while, I started making small trips to the grocery store or to the mall, always with him nearby. He told me my parents and my brothers had been sentenced to prison, but I didn’t keep up with the news.”
Agatha felt Nathan squeeze her hand and her voice dropped to a whisper as she tried to explain. “I had so much to learn. I began with such fear and had to learn to trust for the first time in my life. I had to learn how to leave Agnes behind and become Agatha. It did not happen overnight, but I was willing to place my entire world in Harlan’s hands, knowing eventually I would have a real chance at a new life I could be happy with.”
She was silent for a moment, staring into space, her mind swirling.
Nathan gave a silent shake of his head to the others, indicating they needed to let her process whatever she was thinking about.
Finally, looking up, she said, “I still carried a great deal of guilt over the sins of my family and my inaction for so many years. It didn’t seem to matter how often Harlan told me that I was not my family. He finally accepted that the guilt was simply part of me. Harlan had met Ann at a fundraiser and felt that being her assistant would be a good job for me. He knew that helping other women, as I had that night, would give me a continued sense of atonement for my family sins. And, he was right.”
Jack said, “Harlan knew that Gavrill had gone to prison for tax evasion, but without Agnes’ testimony, he would not have been linked to the human trafficking.”
“Why did he not push her to testify?” Monty asked.
Nathan, filled with a sense of love for Agatha and wanting to protect her with his life, now understood Harlan’s motivation. “Because he loved her.” The room was silent and her eyes jumped to his. He rushed to continued. “Not in a sexual way, but Aggie said it herself…he loved her like a daughter. Her bravery managed to put her family behind bars and severely hamper Gavrill’s business. He not only ended up in prison, but now had eyes on him, halting the human trafficking business. Because he loved her, Harlan protected her, by keeping her away from Gavrill’s eyes.”
“Harlan had to have known that Gavrill would not be in prison forever. Wouldn’t he have wanted her to know what to do, in case he was no longer around?” Patrick wondered aloud.
“Now that you mention it, he once told me something,” she said, her brow scrunched in thought, “but I never understood it. He told me that if anything ever happened to him, the light would find me.”
“The light would find you?” several Saints repeated at the same time, their eyebrows lifting in unison.
Nodding, she shrugged. “That’s what he said, but I had no idea what he meant.”
“And you never asked?” Luke asked, surprised.
Shaking her head as her shoulders slumped, Agatha replied, “I think I stuck my head in the sand when it came to Harlan. He’d taken over when I needed him most, and I just allowed him to continue to do so.” She thought silently for another minute before continuing, “I’m sure it’s hard for take-charge people like you to understand what it’s like for someone who was never raised to think for themselves. It literally took all my energy to plan how to save those women, so it was easy to let him take control. When you told me that he’d died, I didn’t know what to do. And I had no idea what light he was talking about, so I didn’t even think about it.”
“So, the light…” Charlie repeated, looking first to Luke and, after he shook his head, turning to look at Jack.
Jack remained quiet, but a speculative gleam appeared in his eyes before he quickly shuttered them.
That night, relaxed and snuggled against Nathan’s body, as Agatha slept, her mind slid into a memory.
* * *
“What are we doing here?”
“You said you wanted a tattoo,” Harlan replied. “I don’t want to take you just anywhere, so I’m bringing you to a tattoo artist that I know will do a good job.”
I looked up and down the street, empty in the early morning hour, and asked, “Are tattoo parlors even open now?”
Harlan chuckled, “Not usually, but this artist wanted you to feel comfortable, so he’s opening early just for you.”
As I walked inside the building, I was surprised to see it did not look the way I expected. No artist drawings on the walls. No open books of tattoo renderings on the counter. In fact, as I looked around, the room appeared rather blank, other than the screen in the middle of the room. The lights were dim and, as Harlan escorted me around the screen, I was surprised to see the tattoo table with a strong light angled down on it, and a large man rising from his stool.
He greeted me, his manner friendly. “So, Harlan suggested a tattoo of a lighthouse, right?” Seeing me nod, he cut his eyes over to Harlan before they slid back to me, and said, “I hear you’re kind of nervous. Got something for you to take, that’ll take away the pain and make it easier to relax.”
I trusted Harlan explicitly, so took the pill from the man and swallowed it with a glass of water. Soon I felt completely relaxed while still being completely awake. Lying on the table, I pulled my jeans down just low enough to expose my hipbone, but was grateful when the tattoo artist draped a sheet for modesty, as well. Harlan sat with me, holding my hand, and we smiled and talked through the whole thing.
When it was over, the man helped me stand and walk to a floor length mirror.
Before they left, he explained the aftercare to me and gave Harlan a sheet with all of the information, in case I forgot anything. He ushered us to the door and, with a squeeze to my shoulder, wished me well. The loopiness was wearing off, but Harlan wrapped his arm around me and led me back to his car.
Harlan said I had been a guiding light to the women I saved and to me, he was my light. I loved the look of my tattoo and often, in the early days, held up a mirror so that I could see it clearly. The intricate detail of the lighthouse overlooking the cliffs, with a wave crashing on the rocks below, and the beams of light coming out from the top, seemed perfect.
27
Nathan hurried through breakfast, barely eating as he explained, “Sorry, babe. I just got a call and Scarlett and I are needed.”
Agatha looked up from her plate, her eyes full of concern. “Oh no, who’s lost?”
“This time it’s a prisoner from the county jail, and he’s not lost. He just decided he didn’t want to enjoy their accommodations anymore.”
Her eyes widened in surprise and she gasped, “Will he be armed and dangerous?”
“Don’t think so, but we always go in prepared.”
He bent to give her a quick kiss, but she threw her arms around his neck pulling him down, latching onto his lips, pouring all her feelings into their touch. He groaned, saying, “Good God, babe. You make it hard to leave.”
Laughing, she settled back on her heels, saying, “Good! I wouldn’t want you to forget what you have here at home.” Sobering, she added, “Please come home safe.”
“You too, sweetheart.”
“I’ll be fine. Today’s just a regular day at the center.”
With one last kiss, he was out the door, Scarlett faithfully by his side. She stood in the doorway, watching as they drove down the gravel lane, smiling as she turned back to the house. In a short time, his house, had become her home.
Later that morning, she walked out of her office at the center and down the hall to the computer room. She grinned as she leaned her shoulder against the doorframe, observing the women working inside. Several of them were becoming acclimated to the center, and others had left. She sighed, knowing a few women went back to the man who had abused them, but accepted that each woman had to decide for herself when, and if, the time was right to leave. Her job was to try to give them the strength and the knowledge that they did not have to be abused and there was a place of hope there if they needed it.
Hearing the front buzzer ring, she walked to the lobby. Gail, sitting at the desk, was filling in for the volunteer
who had stepped to the back for a few minutes. Tina, chatting with Gail, looked up as she walked through the room, greeting them both with, “Don’t get up, I’ll get it.”
At the door was a statuesque, dark-haired woman whose eyes met hers before dropping to the floor. Knowing how skittish many abused women were, she smiled pleasantly, opening the door wider.
“Hello. My name is Agatha. Welcome to the Safe Harbor Center.”
The young woman’s eyes filled with tears and her hands shook. “I’m not certain if I’m in the right place.”
“Come on in and let’s see if we can help you.”
“I… I don’t know.”
“Well, how about if you at least come into the lobby. We can sit right here and chat for a few minutes, if you’d like.”
The woman reluctantly followed her in, her eyes darting to the side, seeing Tina and Gail. They both greeted her warmly, introducing themselves, and she motioned for her to sit at one of the chairs.
“We’re a safe place for women who are being abused or feel frightened for their personal safety. Women come to us from all walks of life when they need a chance to get their feet on the ground, before deciding what the next step in their life is going to be. We offer a nonjudgmental place for you to feel safe. Does that sound like what you need?”
The woman nodded, her eyes still darting around. “I know this place should make me feel safe,” she said, “but I’m not feeling so good. Do you think maybe we could walk around a little bit?”
“Absolutely,” she said. “In fact, I was going to take a walk to the little grocery store down the street. Would you like to go with me? Perhaps getting out, and getting some fresh air, would make you feel better.”
“I’d like that, ma’am.”
The volunteer returned from the ladies’ room, smiled at those in the lobby and took her seat behind the desk. Gail and Tina looked over at her, and Tina asked. “Do you mind if we walk with you? We both wanted to go to the grocery store also.”
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