Dreaming of a Hero (Heroes Series Book 2)

by Lyssa Layne

  “Any chance we can get a warrant to search his current office. I know it’s at the church, but if there’s a safe place to hide something, that’s where I’d hide them?” Jason asked.

  Before the judge could respond, Mark asked: “What kind of car does she drive?”

  “A gold Acura. She usually parks it around back.” The judge thumbed over his shoulder pointing to the window.

  Jason saw Mark looked out the window. “She’s unlocking the driver’s door. Was she supposed to be leaving now?”

  “Stop her. I’ll sign the warrant.”

  Mark ran to the side door just outside the judge’s office and grabbed the handle just in time to stop her from pulling the door closed.

  Jason was only mildly shocked at the endless string of swear words coming from her mouth. At the same time, her reaction gave him hope that they were getting close.

  Mark escorted her back into the office none too gently as she’s twisted and squirmed trying to get away. Kicking and flinging her body side to side in an attempt to gain her freedom.

  Jason held the door then moved into the outer office. Jason handed Mrs. Benson the warrant, while Mark began the search.

  “You’ll never find what you’re looking for.” She said.

  “And what’s that?” Mark grinned.

  Jason was glad his friend was interacting with the woman because he couldn’t think straight for the comments, which sounded vaguely like an admission.

  “Never mind,” she said as she panicked and clammed up.

  The judge stood by. Jason wondered what was going through his mind. He had a calculating expression. “I’ll sign that warrant. But in order, I’m limiting the search to files for the year of Cherie’s birth, 1990.”

  “Won’t do you no good,” June Benson spat.

  “What?” Mark asked.

  “Don’t matter,” she said.

  Jason worried that maybe she was right. If June Benson was right, the good doctor either burned the files or had already had a chance to hide them.

  After a thorough search of June’s office, her vehicle, the doctor’s office, they moved to the home, never running into Benson at either location. Mark called the police station and had them put out an all points bulletin. They had to find him.

  Jason left the doctor’s house.

  Mrs. Benson swore at him as he drove away.

  Mark promised to come back and monitor the place, “I’ll call for back-up the second he pulls up.”

  Jason headed to Olivia’s, he needed to hold Cherie.

  If the judge told the truth, his father hadn’t been a part of an illegal baby-selling-scheme. Still, he wondered why it had been so necessary for all the secrecy.

  How would he break it to Cherie the adoption was legal? Would she hold it against him or realize he’d just done his job?

  If only he had all the answers? The problem was, he didn’t know the right questions to ask.

  How could he find the key to unlocking all the secrets surrounding Cherie’s birth, and why Desiree felt the need to withdraw once she discovered Jeff was dead?

  The how and why of Lawrence’s behavior and even why his own father allowed himself to be drawn into the drama of hiding Cherie’s true parentage.

  Jason’s mind raced in too many directions. He ran a red light and almost caused an accident. He was known to be the calmest, most controlled person, and yet as more and more questions cropped up, and he received no answers, he was deeply disturbed by the lack of control of his emotions.

  The last thing he wanted to do was to disappoint Olivia or Cherie. And yet, that’s exactly what he felt was going to happen.

  He had to do something.

  Anything.

  There had to be a way to free himself, once and for all, from his father’s wrath and judgmental behavior.

  There had to be a way to relieve the guilt and pained expressions from Olivia’s face.

  And most of all he had to find a way to give Cherie the peace she deserved.

  He had to find a way to save them all.

  CHAPTER THIRTEEN

  That evening as they were sitting around the dining table discussing the events of the day Cherie was stunned to realize, for the first time, she had indeed accepted the idea and believed she was adopted. More than that, she was okay with it. She was still a bit numb, the ridiculous circumstances being what they were.

  Guilt riddled Cherie that Mark was stuck at the Benson’s house on surveillance duty. What he was doing went above and beyond the call of duty.

  While updating Jason about what happened with her mother, she voiced her thoughts.

  “I’m going to ask the doctor if it would hurt or help the situation if I were to visit my mother every day for a while.”

  “What do you hope to accomplish by doing that?” Jason asked.

  “It was just a thought. I mean think about it. Other than Grandmother and now me, my mother has no daily interactions with anyone but the staff. They call her by her given name, and as such, she remains lost in the past. I had no idea about those circumstances, and one mistake has given us the biggest break of all.” Cherie emptied her water glass. “I’ve done several articles on dementia and seniors and I while I know I don’t have a degree in psychology or anything, I do know a bit about human nature.” She saw the skeptical looks on Jason’s face as well as Olivia’s. “Let me explain as best I can. For the moment, let’s consider seniors in a home. Most seniors are alone. Put there because of health issues. Family makes a visit once a week if their lucky, but from what I’ve seen it’s more like once a month. So now, let’s consider it from their perspective. You’re in a home. Most of the people in it with you are in no better situation. Most likely your eyes are not functioning well, so watching television is your amusement of choice. If you’re lucky you have a television in your room, if not, you’re banished to the activity center or room and with so many folks, the home puts it on one channel, and that’s it. You’re stuck at the mercy of whoever controls the remote. Now imagine this is your life, three-hundred and sixty-five days a year. It’s not exactly a glowing lifestyle to look forward to. Desiree’s saving grace is she’s in a cocoon of her own making. That is her safe place. The problem is that she can’t get out of it on her own, and we don’t know how to get in.”

  She let her words sink in.

  “I never thought of it what way,” Olivia said. “Do you think me not going more often has kept her there?”

  Cherie read the guilty on her grandmother’s face and reached to grasp her grandmother’s hand.

  “No. Not at all. Remember you didn’t put her there. She did it to herself as the only way she could handle what she was going through. You can’t blame yourself. If the doctors thought you coming more often would have helped, I’m sure they’d have asked.”

  When the strain left Olivia’s face, Cherie continued, “Only today, we’ve discovered something significant that is getting through to her. That’s why I want to ask the doctor about it. Maybe daily visits at this time will be a bit like an archeologist uncovering a new dinosaur skeleton. You have to remove the debris a bit at a time, slowly and cautiously, so you don’t mar the fossils until you discover if you have it all or not. If I continue to call her Destiny, make comments on her necklace, and try to engage her on a regular basis, who knows maybe it will become easier to keep her in this world? Again, this is all supposition until I can talk to Dr. Andrews tomorrow.

  “It makes sense,” Jason said. “Go for it. Do you want me to go with you?”

  She opened her mouth to respond when Jason’s cell went off. Maybe it was Mark with news.

  “Did the doctor come home?” Jason asked.

  Yup, it was Mark. She listened, wondering what Mark had to say.

  “Uh-huh. I didn’t think of that. I’ll go to the state registrar of vital records in Sacramento tomorrow. Good thinking.” Jason closed his phone and smiled.

  “Mark had an idea. I’m going to check it out.”


  “What’s that?” Cherie asked.

  “He suggested I take a copy of the warrants, the information we have and show it to the judge on hand. It’s not that we want to see the actual adoption papers but the relevant information about Dr. Benson. See the adoption was closed. We can’t get access to it. Even the judge who has a copy of it can’t tell us anything. But if we go with the intent of searching for information on the Doctor, we might get lucky. It’s worth a try,” Jason said.

  “Go for it, but what specific information are you looking for? I ask because as far as I know, a closed adoption is a sealed adoption. No one is allowed access.” Cherie had done an article helping an adoptee locate her biological family.

  “That’s just it. We don’t want the records themselves but rather information on the doctor. See the doctor would have to print his business address, corporate name, etc. and maybe in that documentation, we can find out if we’re missing something. There is no guarantee, but Mark said Judge Atkins offered to call down to the offices and talk to the clerk and see if he could put things in motion for us. Cross your fingers, this just might do it.”

  Jason started to say more when his phone rang. “It’s Judge Atkins.” Jason stepped out of the room to take the call.

  “Okay Grandmother, talk to me. What are you thinking?” Cherie reached for her hand squeezing it. Olivia looked as if she needed the comfort as much as she did.

  “My head it spinning, my pulse is racing as fast as my thoughts, and I don’t know why but I feel like I’m even more frightened than I was before we met in Jason’s office that day.”

  “Why? Is there something I don’t know about?”

  “That’s just it Honey, I don’t know myself.” Olivia fidgeted with her hands. “Lawrence was very secretive about your adoption. I’m grateful you appear to have accepted it, though I doubt you understand it any better than I do. I can’t tell you how relieved I feel about what I saw with my daughter today, but then again what if we push too hard and she never comes back to us. On top of it all, there’s this business with Dr. Benson and his wife. It makes me so angry that I don’t know anything about how or what Lawrence set up with him and I’m furious that Lawrence put this man in charge of our daughter’s health. I feel as if something is missing and there are no keys left and no other doors to choose from in order to find those answers. If only I’d argued the point, put up a fight, made it more difficult for Lawrence to put you up for adoption. Maybe if I’d fought it, there would have been a paper trail we could follow.”

  “Yeah, I guess I feel the same way. From everything you and Jason tell me Lawrence was a smart man. If he was so smart how could he allow Dr. Benson to take care of my mother? Did Lawrence hate her that much? Or was it that he just didn’t care at all? Or was he just so damned selfish he couldn’t bear the scarlet letter my mother painted on him?”

  “Now isn’t the right time to be talking about him. I’m so angry with him I want to throttle him for his stupidity. At the same time, I know you won’t believe it, but Lawrence did have a good heart. The only logical answer I have is that Dr. Benson snowed him well enough to convince Lawrence he had Desiree’s best interests at heart.”

  “Did he ever go visit my mother?”

  Cherie pondered Olivia’s expression as her grandmother gave her question some considerable thought, “At first, I told him that if he was going to force our daughter to be in that institution, then he owed it to her to visit. He went a handful of times and then said he was too busy. But, I think it was guilt.”

  “He had to have a conscience to feel guilt and frankly I’m not convinced he did.”

  “Lawrence didn’t know it, but I followed him the last time he went to see our daughter. This was right after his personal physician told him he was terminal. He said he had to go to the office one last time, but I saw him in the library just before he left, holding Desiree’s graduation picture. I heard him sniffle when I came into the room. He blew his nose and wiped his eyes saying his allergies were bothering him. Lawrence never had allergies. I had Jennings follow him, I was in the back seat, and when he pulled up to the home, I figured he was just saying goodbye to our daughter. When he came home, Lawrence never left the house again, and he deteriorated rapidly after that. So you see my dear, I think that’s why he called Jason and had Mark begin the search for you. Believe it or not, he really did hope to meet you before he died.”

  “I know it sounds cruel, but I’m glad I didn’t meet him. I don’t like him. Maybe someday after all these mysteries are solved, you’ll tell me about your early years together, but right now, I do not care about him.”

  “That’s understandable. All you’re seeing is the monster Lawrence made himself out to be. There was a time he really was a very dear man.”

  “If you say so—I—” Cherie doubted there would come a time she’d ever have a good thought about the man.

  “So what have you two been talking about, you both look angry?” Jason asked, before seating himself and pouring another cup of coffee.

  “Not so fast buster, what was that call about?”

  “Judge Atkins has decided to accompany me tomorrow. He thinks I’ll have a better chance at getting the information if he’s with me arguing our point. I wasn’t about to turn him down.”

  “I don’t blame you. I didn’t think judges made house calls, so to speak.”

  “Believe me, they don’t. Either Judge Atkins thinks we’re on the right track or he knows something we don’t and has an idea of how to help without breaking the letter of the law. I’m betting it’s the latter and his conscience is getting the better of him.”

  “It appears there’s a lot of that going around.” Cherie winked at her grandmother.

  “Huh?”

  “Never mind. I’m tired and ready to go to bed. Big day tomorrow, at least I hope. How about I walk you out and do a little heavy necking on the porch?”

  “That’s another offer I won’t turn down. Good evening Olivia.” Jason kissed Olivia’s cheek.

  “Good night, Jason,” Olivia offered remaining in her seat, nursing a cup of tea.

  Jason helped Cherie up, put his arm around her waist and hugged her close.

  After their goodbyes, she went upstairs and decided to look through her mother’s room. She couldn’t imagine why her mother suddenly stopped keeping a diary with so much going on. If it meant tearing every board from the bed, she’d do it. They had to be missing more critical information.

  ##

  Cherie was down. The previous evening she’d spent at least two hours looking in every nook and cranny and found no other diaries and no trace of the unicorn Jeff won her mother. Where could it be? No way would she ever get rid of it.

  Jason stopped by in the morning asking for a kiss for luck before going to pick up the Judge. They shared a cup of coffee and breakfast, and then he left.

  No less than ten minutes after Jason departed Mark called the house looking for him.

  “Is Jason still there?”

  “No, you just missed him. Why? What’s up?”

  “I was at the doctor’s house all night. He never came home. She was up pacing, or so it appeared from the shadows inside. But just now, I saw her starting to load up her car. She’d been packing. I think she knows a lot more than she’s telling. I’m going to confront her now after her husband didn’t come home so maybe I can scare her into admitting something.”

  “Sounds like an idea. I’ll go with you.”

  “No way! Not after last time. Jason would kill you, then me.”

  “Look, Mark, Jason isn’t in charge of me. I’m in charge of my life. What happened before wasn’t your fault any more than it was mine.”

  “Yes, but obviously there is more going on. I don’t want Jason to jump down my throat again.”

  “We’ll be back long before he will.”

  “The answer is still no.”

  “Fine, but you can’t stop me from coming on my own.”

  “
Cherie, you’re going to get us both in hot water.”

  “Fine. Then call the police, and they can come as back-up. You still have the warrant, so we won’t be doing anything wrong.”

  “That’s the first smart thing you’ve said.”

  “I’m on my way. I’ll be there in ten minutes.”

  Cherie told her grandmother she was meeting Mark, nothing more. No need to worry her. She grabbed her purse, kissed her grandmother on the cheek, threw on her jacket then ran out of the house.

  She pulled up and parked behind Mark’s car on Driscoll Drive. She put the car in park, set the brake then exited the vehicle. Mark locked his car and joined her on the sidewalk.

  “I called for back up the second you pulled up. I didn’t want to call too soon in case the police drove up with siren blaring and lights flashing. We’ll just go knock, and they’ll be here in a few minutes.”

  “Sure you don’t want to wait?”

  “No, I want to catch her by surprise besides her car is almost full. She’s definitely going to run.”

  They made their way the front door. It was slightly ajar.

  “Do we knock or wait for back-up?”

  Mark didn’t even bother to reply. He pushed the door open, leaned in and said, “Hello?”

  There was a sudden loud thud towards the back of the house. Mark raced in ran down the hall, Cherie followed hot on his tail.

  When he reached the first door, Mark edged his way closer, pushing open the door and looked in. He checked three doors off the hallway then moved to the last one.

  At the last room, he pushed it open to find Mrs. Benson on the floor unconscious. Mark pointed to the window. The screen was missing. A cool breeze blew the curtains out the window. They heard footsteps running away. “Call 911.”

  He bent and felt for a pulse. “She’s still alive. Go wait for the ambulance.”

  He’d barely spit out the sentence when they heard the front door slam. They raced down the hall. Mark grabbed the front door it wouldn’t open something as blocking it. Mark pointed to the ground as smoke came pouring into the room. “Here we go again.”