Lean on Me

by Claudia Hall Christian

  “I’ll see myself out,” Alex kissed her cheek and followed the men to the car. She was halfway down the walk when Mammy yelled:

  “See you soon!”

  Wondering what that meant, Alex gave her a big wave and stepped into the Bronco after Zack. They took off at a fast clip.

  “What was that?” Zack whispered to Alex.

  “Mammy’s parents worked in intelligence during World War II,” Alex whispered. “They were lost in Russia after the war – no trace – when Mammy was a baby. She never had a photo of them. Raz unearthed a photo and made a copy for her.”

  Not knowing what to say, Zack could only nod. In what seemed like a blink of an eye, they were back at the dock. Before she left the Bronco, Alex set a manila envelope with Jesse’s sketch of Dura-Europas on the bench seat. She jogged to the speed boat. They took a quick trip to the Marine Air Base Station. After more than one “You sure we don’t need to report those amazing biscuits?” from their Navy SEAL guards, there was a round of blushing, saluting, and a short drive back to the helicopter. In their absence, the helicopter had been washed and fueled by a group of the Jakker’s fans. With a wave to Zack’s fans, they hopped back into the Pave Hawk. The helicopter was warm and ready to go. Zack and Cliff made quick work of their safety checks and they were airborne.

  “Where to, my Fey?” Zack asked over the intercom.

  “Troy’s drop off at Dahlia’s,” Alex said.

  “Enjoy your nap,” Zack said. “I’ll wake you before we land.”

  “Thanks,” Alex said. “Are you going to the reunion?”

  She waited a moment for Zack to disconnect the helicopter’s speaker system from recorders and command.

  “Go,” he said.

  “Are you still going to JFCOM tomorrow morning?” Alex asked.

  “Yeah. Why?” Zack asked.

  “I’ll go with you,” Alex said.

  “Sure,” Zack said. “Like I said, I don’t know what they want. They wanted me to go in today, but I was flying today. All day right?”

  “Tomorrow morning is perfect,” Alex said.

  “Going online,” Zack said. “I hate those fucking reunions Alex. You know that.”

  “Thought you might change your mind,” she said.

  “Not a chance,” Zack said. “Now get your nap and stop badgering me about this high school crap.”

  “Yes sir,” Alex said.

  She closed her eyes and was out.

  FFFFFF

  Sunday morning

  October 25 – 9:20 a.m. EDT

  Fredericksburg Police Station, Fredericksburg, PA

  “My brother was always a kind of… evil genius,” Troy said. “Even when we were kids, he had this capacity to strike hard at your most sensitive spot in such a way that no one knew it had happened. Even when it happened, you’d wonder if you’d hurt yourself.”

  “Can you give us an example?” Army CID Agent Snypes said.

  “Well, like marrying Dahlia,” Troy said. “I spent years wondering what I had done wrong and hating myself for taking her back every time. My self-loathing spurred a decade of self-destructive behavior. I thought she had married him because of something that was wrong with me or something I had done. But, it was Hector who made it happen. All that time, all that self doubt, and it turns out that Hector was pulling the strings. He really and truly despised me.”

  “Anyone with a television can see that your father shares the sentiment,” Detective Young said. “Any idea why you’re the object of their…”

  “Hatred?” Troy filled in the question Detective Young left hanging in the air. “I got away. When I was ten, I started going to adventure camp in the summers. I made a lot of friends, who I spent afternoons and weekends with during the school year. I mean I was under Hector’s thumb every moment of every day until the day I left for camp. When I came back, I just wasn’t around enough for him to exert his will. And then I betrayed them completely by joining the Army.”

  “Why marry Dahlia?” Detective Young asked.

  “Dahlia said that marrying him was a perfect storm,” Troy said. “She wanted to hurt me. He wanted to hurt me. Once married, he could hurt me through her every day. He told her that he had a number of military contacts. If she didn’t stay with him, he would have me killed. She left him once, and a few days later I was shot; flesh wound in the shoulder – nothing serious. But he told her he had me shot, and if she didn’t return to him, he would have me killed.”

  “Did he have you shot?” Army CID Agent Snypes asked.

  “I don’t know,” Troy said. “My CO doesn’t think so, but Dahlia believed him.”

  “Why not hurt you more directly?” Detective Young asked.

  “You mean rather than rip the heart out of me and launch a decade of self-torture?” Troy asked. “Why bother doing the work yourself when he could get me to do it for him? That’s what I mean by evil genius. Even as a kid, Hector thought in terms of maximum damage, minimal effort, and zero culpability.”

  “Why wasn’t Hector Jasper charged with, at the minimum, child abuse?” Detective Young asked.

  “Dahlia and the boys were terrified of him,” Troy said. “She felt lucky to get away. The boys were in terrible condition – undernourished, ill, and…”

  Unable to continue, Troy clamped his mouth shut and shook his head.

  “If you were unable to obtain them, Detective, we have the Social Security reports,” Hawkins Mac Alister said.

  “We have them,” Army CID Captain Snypes said. “Captain Olivas, you were telling us why Mrs. Jasper blocked criminal proceedings against Hector Jasper.”

  “I’m not sure who advised her,” Troy said. “Probably her therapist. But Dahlia wanted to get away, divorce Hector, terminate his parental rights, and then wait until the she was officially divorced. She had that in motion before we reconnected in April.”

  “Did you argue with her?” Detective Young asked.

  “Argue?” Troy asked. “I mentioned it to her. It was a miracle that she and the boys were able to get away from Hector. He had them locked up tight. It took her six months to come up with a plan to get out of the house; let alone off the grounds. Then the boys were sick. Hermes almost died. The boys were in a private hospital for almost a month while she filed for divorce and termination of his parental rights.”

  “We can’t find any record that he fought her in the courts,” Detective Young said.

  “Dahlia planned it perfectly,” Troy said. “She did everything the day after Hector started a six-month, seventy-stop international press tour for his latest book about Drones. She and the children were removed under an emergency order. A judge terminated his parental rights in an emergency hearing the day he was speaking at a three-day conference to launch the tour. He was in front of cameras or on the radio for the next six months. He couldn’t afford to protest when he was on such a big press junket. His love for control and cruelty is second only to his love for public attention.”

  “How did she get out of going on the tour?” Detective Young asked. “From what we’ve been led to believe, she was a fixture at those things.”

  “She picked a fight with him the night before he left. He started in on the boys and she…,” Troy gulped. “They were too bruised to go to the conference with him. The police arrived an hour after his plane took off. He didn’t know it was happening until he returned home to pick her up for the next leg of the tour.”

  “And criminal proceedings?” FBI Agent Platt asked.

  “The boys were too weak to survive any criminal proceedings,” Troy said. “The DA was going to file tomorrow after the divorce was final. It’s one of the reasons we were in town today. But…”

  “Which DA?” Detective Young asked.

  “We have that information for you here,” Hawkins Mac Alister said. “We’ve contacted the DA at home. You must understand, with all the press attention, there’s a quite a bit of CYA going on. As horrible as it is that Dahlia’s no longer living, the D
A is confident that his actions saved the boys’ lives.”

  “We set up satellite monitoring and video feeds from inside the house,” Troy said. “Dahlia and the boys studied and practiced defensive fighting techniques. They knew where the panic buttons and hiding places were. They were tough and ready.”

  “If they were so ready, what happened?” FBI Agent Pratt asked.

  “Dahlia sacrificed herself for me and the boys,” Troy said. “You should have seen them together. Just a month ago or yesterday morning. They were so happy together, like peas in a pod. She loved them… and… She never forgave herself for what happened to the them.”

  “Captain Olivas, why didn’t you save your sons? Dahlia?” Detective Young asked.

  “I met the boys the first time in April,” Troy said. “Dahlia and I… For years, I begged her to stay with me. I begged her to leave him. I’m ashamed to admit, I told her she could leave the boys with him and come away with me. She refused every time. I always believed she chose him over me.”

  Overcome with emotion, Troy dropped his head into his hands and took a number of deep breaths. Hawkins Mac Alister put his hand on Troy’s shoulder.

  “We need to terminate this interview,” Hawkins Mac Alister said.

  “No,” Troy said. “I’d rather get through this and get back to my boys. They will be worried about me. Worry is the worst thing for them.”

  “We’re almost done,” Detective Young said. “We have a few more questions, then we’d like you to walk us through the scene. It would be a big help to us.”

  “Sure.”

  “Why did you return in April?” Detective Young asked.

  “I needed to know once and for all if we were on or off,” Troy said. “Dahlia met me in the city and told me everything. I cried. We fought. But by the end of the day, she allowed me to meet the boys and… That was kind of it. She was the love of my life, the very center of it, and had been for most of my life. Once I accepted this simple fact, everything else was just details.”

  “Who paid for everything? Dahlia started fairly intensive therapy last year,” Army CID Agent Snypes said. “And the boys’ therapist and the house and the lawyers… We can’t check your finances.”

  “Dahlia got hooked up with an organization she called ‘For the Friendless,’” Troy said. “They paid for everything, found the house, the lawyers, the therapists, everything. Her agreement with them was that she would pay them back when she was done and continue their work. She had already recruited another woman who she thought needed their help.”

  “You don’t know anything about them?” Detective Young asked.

  “No,” Troy said. “When Dahlia and I got together, I paid off most of her loan. I hadn’t been paying rent for more than a year and sold a house before being assigned in Denver. I had a decent sum of money. After our family was together, everything came out of my salary. Dahlia kept an active account with them to keep her options open. She was talking to them about opening her own business. She wasn’t sure what she wanted to do, but she liked the idea of working and owning her own clothing shop or café.”

  “Talking to them?” FBI Agent Pratt asked.

  “She had a burner phone with one number programmed in it,” Troy said. “She said someone slipped it to her at a party and told her that if she wanted help to call the number. When she wanted or needed something, she would leave a message on the phone. The phone number is a Google phone number that links to another dummy phone.”

  “It’s untraceable?” FBI Agent Pratt asked.

  “Let me say this,” Troy said. “I’m in Military Intelligence and I couldn’t track it down.”

  “If Dahlia needed something?” Detective Young asked.

  “She called the number and left a message asking for what she needed,” Troy said. “Whatever help she’d requested – doctor, therapist, lawyer, rental agent – would call her on that phone.”

  “Do you have the phone?” Detective Young asked.

  “No,” Troy said. “She either had it on her body or she hid it. I never knew where it was. A couple times, she destroyed it and received another. I would guess that if you find it, it will be disconnected.”

  “So that’s how she got out of Hector’s house?” Army CID senior agent Snypes asked. “She used this service to finance her recovery and help her plan. God, I wish I had one of those for my little sister.”

  “I wish I could tell you who was behind it,” Troy said. “I have no idea.”

  “For the Friendless, huh?” Detective Young shook his head.

  “Dahlia used to say, ‘Friendless people need friends.’” In that moment, Dahlia’s beautiful face came to his mind. His entire body wrenched with the loss of her. He looked down at his hands to keep from weeping. “I need a break.”

  “If you don’t mind,” Detective Young said. “We’d like you to walk us through the scene.”

  “We don’t have a vehicle,” Hawkins Mac Alister said.

  “Lucky you’re not friendless,” Detective Young smiled.

  F

  CHAPTER EIGHT

  Sunday morning

  October 25 – 10 a.m. EDT

  The Jefferson, Downtown Washington DC

  Rebecca had been ready to hammer Elizabeth with the truth. She had all the documents, photographs and reports from Social Services. But Elizabeth didn’t need that kind of intervention. She wept at the first photo of the boys’ bedroom. Even upset, she refused to back down. She wanted to see everything. While Rebecca held her hand, Patrick went through the photographs of the house.

  “I never went upstairs,” Elizabeth said through her tears. “I knew the boys were small, but Dahlia was size 0. And I…”

  Patrick started on the photos of the boys and Dahlia. Elizabeth clutched each photo and sobbed.

  “Hector did all of this?” Elizabeth asked. “Don’t answer that. I know he did. He used to torture flies, mice, alley cats – whatever he could get his hands on. I never allowed the children to have pets because he was so cruel. I knew Dahlia was unhappy, but I thought it was because she chose Hector over Troy. I figured she got what she deserved. But no one deserves…”

  Elizabeth held up the photo of the shackles on the wall of Dahlia’s room.

  “He locked her in every night,” Rebecca said. “He threatened to kill the boys if she left her shackles.”

  “General, Rebecca, what am I going to do? I can’t go home,” Elizabeth said. “I won’t go home. We have no money. Mr. Jasper spent every cent of my inheritance. When the economy crashed, he cashed out my 401K. I… I may not be shackled, but I’m as trapped as poor Dahlia.”

  Rebecca held out a disposable phone.

  “These people are called ‘For the Friendless,’” Rebecca said. “They help women in situations like yours. The only agreement is that you must repay the money. There’s no interest. But your repayment ensures that another woman can get help.”

  “If you’re ready to get help, call the number that’s programmed in the phone and leave a message,” Patrick said. “But don’t call unless you’re ready to be helped.”

  “Huh,” Elizabeth took the phone and turned it over. “Dahlia had one of these. At that party, you know, at Red Rocks? Before everything happened, Troy took Dahlia away. When she came back, she had one of these phones and was… different, stronger. I was going to ask her but… She gave me one of these phones a couple months ago. I thought she was an idiot and threw it away.”

  “I don’t know anything about that,” Patrick looked at Rebecca. “You?”

  Rebecca shook her head. Elizabeth shivered.

  “Afraid?” Patrick asked.

  “Terrified, General,” Elizabeth said. “What if…?”

  “Sometimes, you have to grit your teeth and move forward,” Patrick said.

  “Yes sir,” Elizabeth said. “I don’t have anything. Not even a change of clothing. But…”

  “Yes dear,” Rebecca said.

  “I do have friends,” Elizabeth
looked from Patrick to Rebecca. “Thank you. Will Gerald forgive me?”

  “I don’t think he has to,” Patrick said. “He always knew what was going on.”

  “I’d like to see my grandchildren,” Elizabeth said.

  “Troy’s with the police this morning,” Patrick said. “With their mother dead, it’s really up to him as to who sees the boys.”

  “Oh God, what will I say to Troy?”

  “You’d be surprised how far ‘I’m sorry’ goes,” Rebecca said.

  “I’ve rented this room for a week, Elizabeth,” Patrick said. “If you’d like to stay here and get oriented, you’re welcome too.”

  “Thank you,” Elizabeth said. “You’re in the city for a while?”

  “We’re here until the kids leave,” Rebecca said. “Why don’t I call you later and see how you are?”

  “I’d like that,” Elizabeth said.

  “Should I leave these?” Patrick asked.

  “No,” Elizabeth said. “I won’t ever forget. Ever. Thank you.”

  Patrick put the photographs and reports in his briefcase. He and Rebecca hugged Elizabeth good-bye. They were in the elevator when he asked:

  “What do you think?”

  “She’ll either call Jasper and return to her life or use the disposable phone,” Rebecca said. “She already destroyed one phone. Who knows?”

  “I’m sorry, Becky,” Patrick said. “I had to try.”

  “That’s what I love about you, Paddie,” Rebecca said.

  “She might take the chance,” Patrick said.

  “She might.”

  Unable to come up with words to soothe her doubt, Patrick gave her a curt nod.

  FFFFFF

  Sunday morning

  October 25 – 10:00 a.m. EDT

  Sheridan Circle Mansion, Washington DC

  “This is an interesting turn of events,” Eoin McKinney said in Ulster Gaelic. The sound of his rich Irish voice echoed off the marble.

  “Can you believe this crap?” Cian Kelly replied in Ulster Gaelic. “They whine and whine and whine about how they work so much while they’re here in Washington DC. And here they are! Living like proddies on a government contract.”