by Donna Wagner
CHAPTER FORTY-NINE
The alarm blared at five on the dot. Tim shifted to shut it off before he woke the whole house up. His blanket felt heavy on top of him and it took him a moment to realize that it wasn’t a blanket. It was Anna. “Um, good morning?” Tim said, confused as to why Anna was in his bed.
“Hi,” she said quietly, averting her gaze to anywhere but him. He realized at that moment he was only wearing boxers. Her arm was across his bare chest. Tim felt his heart start to beat a little faster. At first, he wondered why she wasn’t moving, since she couldn’t even look at him, then he realized, in his sleep, he’d put his arm around her and was still clutching her waist. He let go immediately and she slid from the bed. Being released from his grasp seemed to help her recover. “I’m sorry. I couldn’t sleep. I couldn’t stop wondering if my parents are okay. I didn’t want to be alone.”
“Hey, it’s okay,” Tim said, reaching for her hand, “I understand.”
He gave her hand a squeeze and she sat back down on the bed. He looked at her and almost forgot how to breathe. “Oh! I should get dressed! You should… too,” she said haltingly, staring at his chest.
She stood up again and pulled her hand from his. Tim watched as she scurried from his room. He rolled over and groaned. At that moment he wanted nothing than to call her back and take her in his arms again. He didn’t even know when he started feeling that way about Anna, but now that he had acknowledged it, in his own mind, it was going to be very hard to concentrate on anything else. She’d laid with him in his bed before. Why was this time any different? Trying to focus his thoughts, he got up and got dressed. He grabbed the key to the storage unit and left his room. Anna was waiting in the hallway. “Hi again,” she said, with a shy smile.
“Hi,” Tim answered.
They stood there a moment, then Anna recovered first. “Are you ready to go?”
Tim nodded and followed her downstairs. He grabbed Adam’s keys on the way to the garage. They didn’t talk in the car. The ride to the storage unit was uneventful. It was barely six in the morning, on a Saturday. When they arrived, Tim pulled the car up to right in front of the unit instead of parking by the office like they had before. “We may need to load some things in the car. I don’t know how much there will be to go through, so I thought we might wind up taking the boxes back home.”
The sound of the unit’s door opening broke the silence of the morning. The unit looked the same as it had before. Tim scanned the boxes noting that the few he could see were labeled. “It looks like Adam was pretty organized when he packed everything for you,” Anna commented.
Tim nodded in agreement. He moved some boxes out of the way so he could reach the ones in the back. After a moment of reading the labels on the boxes, he finally spotted a few labeled “Fan Mail”. “Of course, they’re on the bottom,” he said.
He started to move the boxes that were stacked on top of the ones they needed. As he bent to pick up the last one, he stumbled, and it fell from his arms. The bottom of the box split, and things began tumbling out. He ignored the mess, deciding he could come back another day with a new box and clean it up. As he bent to pick up the first back labeled “Fan Mail”, Anna’s voice stopped him. “Tim, wait! Look at this!”
He turned around and saw Anna kneeling by the mess that had spilled out from the box. In the pile was another, smaller box. This one was different. It was not brown or cardboard and across the top was engraved “Nelle”. Tim stared at the box, torn. He wanted to know what was in the box, but he also knew time was of the essence. They needed to find Anna’s parents soon. Anna saw his hesitation. “You put those boxes in the car so we can take them home. I’ll bring this, too, so you can look at it later.”
Tim shook his head. “I have a strong feeling we need to look in this box. That whatever is inside will help us.”
Anna looked at the boxes of fan mail and back at the small box. “Okay,” she agreed, thinking, it was a small box and they could look through it quickly.
They walked to a small table that had been in his kitchen previously. He took two of the chairs stacked on top down so they could each sit. Ann placed the box on the small part of the table no longer covered by chairs. Tim reached out to touch the box for the first time. He ran his fingers along the edges, looking for a latch to open it, but didn’t find anything. After looking a moment longer, he said, “Well, we might not be looking in here after all, if I can’t open it!”
Anna repeated what Tim had done and had no luck either. “Well, maybe your grandparents know how to open it. It’s obviously from Snillotia, so maybe there’s a secret.”
It seemed there was always a secret where his mother was concerned. He absently traced the letters on the top of the box while he was thinking. The window that had been in his mom’s copied room had activated when a power was used on it. He concentrated for a moment and felt power rush to his fingertips, which were still resting on the lid of the box. The lid clicked open. He slowly raised the lid, noticing Anna from the corner of his eye, staring at him in surprise. He looked at her and gave a small smile then looked inside the box. There were a few trinkets, a few pieces of jewelry and a stack of papers. He lifted the first sheet out of the box. The paper was different then he was used to- thicker and uneven around the edges. He glanced at the bottom of the page and his eyes widened. “This is a letter from Eimaj!”
“Is that what they all are?” she asked, gesturing to the stack that remained in the box.
Tim reached in and pulled out a handful and quickly looked through them. “That’s what it looks like so far! This is amazing! We could learn so much!”
Anna nodded slowly. It was great, but it didn’t help find her parents. Tim stopped looking through the pages and noticed that she wasn’t as excited as he was about their discovery and immediately felt horrible. “I’m sorry, Anna. This isn’t important now. We’ll look through these later, once your parents are safe.”
Anna looked up from the spot she was staring at and before she could respond to what time said, something caught her eye. “What is that? Is that a paper clip?” she asked, pointing to the center of the pile Tim hadn’t yet looked at.
Tim separated the pages and saw that it was, in fact, a paper clip. It was another letter from Eimaj but attached to it was an envelope and another piece of paper that was clearly different. It looked like a piece of paper torn out of a notebook. He pulled the paper clip off as he quickly read the letter. The envelope fluttered to the tabletop. He stood up quickly with the pages still clutched in his hand. Not wanting to get ahead of himself, he quickly flipped to the torn notebook page. As he read what was written on the page, he knew they had found what they were looking for. When he reached the bottom, he paused. The letter was signed by “A.J. King”. His confidence waned and his shoulders slumped. “I thought this was it. But it’s not signed by Aaron. It some guy named A.J. I guess the A could stand for Aaron, but his last name is King, not Cooper like Adam’s,” Tim said, thinking out loud, “I’m going to go put those boxes in the car now. We can look at them at home with everyone’s help.”
As he stood up, he tossed the papers on the table, but before he could move away, Anna was clenching his arm. Tim looked down at her in surprise. Eyes wide, she looked at him and whispered, “A.J. King?”
Before he could answer she tore her hand away and snatched the envelope on the table. She stared at it closely, then dropped it, muttering to herself. “I saw it there, but it made no sense, but now it does, but how?”
She looked at Tim, who was watching her in concern. “You don’t get it,” she said picking up the envelope and the letter. “A.J. King and the return address! Come on, we need to go.”
Anna raced back to the car, barely giving him time to close and lock the storage unit. She had run to the driver’s seat and already had the car on and in drive. He slipped into the passenger seat, and she thrust the envelope at him. He looked at it and saw the return address was only a few blocks from their
house. He still didn’t understand why Anna was freaking out. As she drove and the houses flew past it finally hit him. “Oh my Gosh!”
Anna glanced at him then back to the road. “It took you long enough. I can’t believe it. It can’t be true, but it’s too much of a coincidence! We have to check!”
Suddenly, she slammed on the brakes and threw the car into park. They were barely parked next to the curb, but she was out of the car and running to the front door. Tim swore and ran after her. “Anna, wait! We need a plan!”
It was too late. Anna was at the front door and banging on it, crazed. “My parents could be in this house. I need to know!”
No one answered the door. She started looking around, trying to find a hidden key. “Anna, dear, is that you?”
Anna spun around and Tim froze. Anna finally spotted who had spoken. “Oh! Mrs. O’Shea, I didn’t see you sitting over there.”
Mrs. O’Shea smiled from her porch next door. “I thought it was you, dear, but my eyes aren’t what they used to be! I don’t think anyone is home though, dear,” she said pointing towards the house behind them, “Actually, I haven’t seen anyone since the day before yesterday.”
Anna and Tim glance at each other. Thursday had been the last day she’d seen her parents. They’d left for the storage unit to look for the laptop. She wondered when they had been taken. Had it been before they left to find Goldie? Had she still been in the house? Could she have saved them? Lost in her thoughts, Anna was surprised when Tim opened the door to the car. He had apparently led her away from the house. She twisted to go back. “Tim, we need to wait here for him. He has to come back at some point! My parents could be in there right now!”
Tim shook his head. “No. We need to go fill everyone in on what we now know. Call him. If he
answers don’t let him know you suspect him. If you invite him over and he comes, we’ll have the advantage.”
“But we still won’t know where my parents are.”
“We’ll find them, Anna. Don’t worry.”
CHAPTER FIFTY
“I can’t believe it!” Adam exclaimed, “Right in front of me, all this time.”
Adam paced back and forth through the sitting room. “We’re all shocked, son,” Grandpa Cire said, trying to calm him down.
“No one else is related to him! How could I have not known?”
Myra even tried to help. “You’re too young to have a child that old, sweetheart. Since you and Aaron are twins it makes sense you wouldn’t think of it. You had no way of knowing!”
Anna had finally had enough. “It doesn’t matter! I didn’t know. It never even crossed my mind! It’s not something you could randomly guess or figure out! Lamenting over how we were all blind does not help the fact that his phone’s been disconnected. I have no way of finding him or my parents!”
Anna had tried calling him probably a hundred times at this point. It was always the same. “The number you are trying to reach has been disconnected.”
She felt completely helpless and really did not like it. Tim sat next to her and she was also hyper aware of the fact that his arm was almost around her shoulders on the back of the couch. She also couldn’t ignore Peter’s constant sideway glances and frowns any longer. She was very tired of his strange behavior and turned to him. “And you! What is your problem? Why do you keep staring at me and frowning? I don’t live up to expectations because I don’t know what to do? Get over it and keep your eyes to yourself!”
With that, she got up and stormed out of the room. She needed to be alone to think. Where else would he be? She opened the door to her room and threw herself on the bed. Finally, alone, the tears she’d been holding back started falling. Her world was crashing down around her. After a few minutes passed, her tears slowed. There was a knock at her door. She ignored it and continued to stare at her ceiling. It’s just me.
Come in.
Tim opened the door and entered her room. “Are you okay?” he asked sitting on the end of her bed.
“I’m scared.”
Tim understood and didn’t understand at the same time. He knew how scary it was losing your parents, but he hadn’t had time to think about it first and constantly wonder what was happening to them. He gently pushed Anna over and slid next to her on the bed. She settled into the crook of his arm. Anna was glad he hadn’t tried to say anything. He was rubbing her back softly in slow circles. It was very comforting. Tim was hoping she’d fall asleep. He knew she was worried, but if she was completely worn out from her constant worrying, she might not be able to help him, if it came to that. Suddenly, a loud jingle of bells broke the silence and Anna flew off the bed. She grabbed her phone from her desk where she had tossed it when she’d given up trying to reach him. She looked at the display. “I don’t recognize the number,” she said.
“Answer it anyway but put it on speaker so I can hear.”
She nodded and accepted the call. “Hello?”
“I heard you were looking for me. What’s up?”
Anna glanced at Tim. “Where’d you hear that?”
“Mrs. O’Shea. She said you were banging on my door earlier like you wanted to break it down. What was so important?”
Anna paused before answering. Let him think you still have no idea what’s going on.
“I need to talk to you. Your phone’s not working, and I couldn’t get ahold of you.”
“Yeah, it’s busted.”
“Can you come over?”
“Uh no. I’m in the middle of something- family stuff.”
Anna was beginning to lose patience. “Oh. Okay. Well is this a number I can reach you on now?”
“No. This is uh, a pay phone.”
He’s lying.
Obviously. Should I just confront him on the phone?
No! We’ll never find him then!
“Anna? Are you there?”
“Oh, yeah. Sorry. Look, I really need to talk to you. Can you come over when you’re done your family stuff?”
“It’s important?”
“Very.”
“I can’t promise anything. I don’t know how long this’ll take, but I’ll try.”
“Thanks,” Anna said with your teeth clenched.
He hung up without saying goodbye. “Do you think he’s going to come?”
Anna shrugged. “Can I see your phone for a minute?”
Anna handed him the phone. He looked it for a moment, typed a few things, and then said, “Well, would you look at that?”
“What?”
“I did a reverse look-up on the number he called from. It was a long shot since so many numbers are cells or unlisted, but it’s actually listed! I think he just made his second mistake!”
Looking at the screen, she grinned. “What was his first?”
“Making you upset. He’s gonna pay.”
After a few seconds of awkward silence, Anna said, “So Rebel King Enterprises, huh? Apparently, Aaron has a one-track mind.”
“There’s an address listed. I don’t know if it’s an actual location, or just a mailing address, though,” Tim pointed out.
“I guess there’s only one way to find out!” Anna explained, jumping to her feet.
CHAPTER FIFTY-ONE
Tim and Anna drove slowly passed the office building that matched the address they’d found online. People were going in and out of the building. “It’s rather busy for a Saturday; I wonder what Rebel King actually does.”
They had tried to look the company up online before they left, but other than the address and a few phone numbers, there was no information. “Let me see if I can get some answers,” Tim said, pulling into the parking lot of the building.
“You’re just going to walk in?”
“No! I’m going to call the first number listed and see if they’ll tell me if they have any other locations.”
He pulled out his phone and dialed the first number that showed up when the company was searched. It rang a few times, then Tim heard, “Rebel King
Enterprises. This is Denise. How may I direct your call?”
“Yeah, hi Denise. I have a slight situation and I’m hoping you can help me out,” Tim said, making his voice sound a little deeper than it really was.
Anna tried not to laugh. “What can I help you with, sir?” Denise asked.
“Well, I drive a truck and I got a call from your guy, Joe, about a pick-up I need to make. Only he didn’t remember to give me the pick-up location,” Tim explained, “I tried to call back the number he called me on, and he didn’t answer. I tried that reverse look up thing on the internet, but that gave your office location. I’m not picking up at an office building, am I?”
“No, sir. All pick-ups are at the warehouse, sir.”
“That makes much more sense, Denise. Do you happen to have that address?”
She rattled off an address that Anna quickly typed into the map app on her phone.
“Thanks, Denise! Hey, can we keep this between us? We don’t want to get Joe in trouble for screwing up, am I right?”
“Yes, sir. Of course not. Have a good day now!”
“Bye, Denise. Thanks again.”
Tim disconnected the call. Anna was staring at him in shock. “I can’t believe that worked.”
“I just pretended to sound like my dad when he made work calls,” Tim said shrugging.
“But how did you know they do pick-ups? We don’t even know what they do in there.”
Tim shrugged again. “I took a guess. Most companies sell something. Whatever that something is would need to be picked up at some point.”