“She was drugged and kidnapped!” Ramon exclaimed, fighting to control his temper.
“Look buddy, it’s her word against his, and to be honest with you, it doesn’t look too good for her. She drove herself to the hotel and she declined to provide us with a rape kit. Unless she can prove that she’s been violated, we’re gonna have to drop the charges against him.”
“She was held against her will!” Ramon cried.
“Apparently that’s all part of her little act. Stewart’s attorney has a clerk at a local sex shop willing to testify that a redhead bought all that bondage stuff from him today… He’s willing to I.D. her. Now, you’re not gonna make me bring him in for a lineup… are you?”
“He has an attorney already?”
“Yeah, some high class lawyer showed up before we even got this guy booked. Looks like our john has friends in high places.”
“I told you– she’s not a hooker!” Ramon exclaimed.
The detective lowered his voice, “Hey! Don’t shoot the messenger… All I’m sayin’ is that this lawyer has connections, if you know what I mean. He can make a lot of trouble for your girlfriend here. If she presses charges he insists that we book her for solicitation as well… Just to be fair.”
“What?!”
“Listen, as a personal favor to you the chief will let the girl walk if she agrees not to work in this town again. She’s lucky that the DA is willing to drop the whole thing.”
Ramon looked over at Layla, sitting next to Cali with her head resting on her cousin’s shoulder. Her coppery hair was tangled, her blouse torn, and mascara was smudged under her shell-shocked eyes. She looked so traumatized and vulnerable that he couldn’t bring himself to add to her grief. Caledonia’s eyes met his with an “I told you so” look in them.
It went against everything he believed, but there was no going back now. “Alright. We’re out of here,” he told the officer.
~
They pulled up next to Layla’s car, and Cali offered to drive it home. “Do you want to come with me?” she asked her cousin. Layla looked over at Ramon.
“I’ll take you,” he said.
“I want to stay with him,” Layla answered.
They watched as she drove away, and Ramon turned to get a good look at Layla. “When’s the last time you ate anything?” he asked her.
“I just want to get into a hot shower,” she said, shivering.
“You need to eat,” he said, turning on the heater. He drove down the road a little while, finally turning into the driveway of a nearby fast food place. “What looks good?” he asked her, gesturing towards a giant plastic menu. The lit up pictures combined with the smell of frying food made her stomach growl.
“I don’t know… What do you like?”
A crackling voice on the loudspeaker made her jump, and she watched as Ramon leaned his head out the window and spoke into a metal grid. When they pulled away she asked him why they were leaving. He rolled to a stop at a window on the side of the building, looking over at her. “You’ve never been to a drive-through, have you?” he asked.
She shook her head no, her eyes big in her pale face.
He paid and handed her a couple of sacks before pulling back out onto the busy street. A few minutes later he turned into a lighted parking lot to stop and rummage through the bags. “I hope chocolate’s okay,” he said, sticking a straw through the plastic lid of a shake and handing it to her.
They sat and ate delicious greasy cheeseburgers wrapped in paper and shared some fries from the bottom of a cardboard box. Layla finally stopped shivering as warmth seeped into her body and color returned to her cheeks. Ramon watched her closely, relieved to see the life creep back into her eyes.
He told her how Sherriff Brown had a theory that cheeseburgers were the cure for most of life’s problems, and Layla nodded solemnly in agreement. Warm and full, she finally sighed with relief, wiping her fingers on the paper napkins and finishing her shake with a loud slurp that made them both laugh.
“Ramon?”
“Yeah?”
“Thank you for finding me.”
He reached up to stroke her cheek with the back of his hand, flooding her with pretty purple affection overpowered by loving pink concern. “You have no idea how scared I was,” he said, but he was wrong.
She did.
“I’m sorry,” she whispered, turning her face away, ashamed.
He leaned over to kiss her cheek. “You have nothing to be sorry for,” he whispered into her ear. He pulled back and started the car. “Let’s get you home.”
~
Chapter Twenty-Three
TRUTH TELLING
~
Caledonia pulled up in front of the house, first spotting an unfamiliar car in the driveway and then a lone figure rising from the porch to greet her. Calvin was waiting out front, and she could see the relief flooding out of him. She stepped from Layla’s car and into his welcoming arms, surprised by the sudden intensity of his embrace.
“Is Layla gonna be okay?” he finally asked.
“I think so. She’s with Ramon.”
He pulled back to take her face between his hands and kiss her gently, touching her heart with his melancholy tenderness.
“What was that for?” she asked.
“I missed you. I hate coming home when you’re not here.”
“Are you sure it wasn’t just the dinner you missed?” she joked, but he didn’t laugh. He wrapped his arms around her again and pulled her close, dropping his head to bury his face in her hair.
“Hey,” she turned her head to speak into his ear. “You okay?”
He gestured to the visitor’s car. “Every time I think we’re in the clear more trouble comes along.”
“I know,” she said, heaving a sigh and slipping her arm around his waist. She snuggled into his side as they walked up the drive towards the house. When she stepped inside she looked around, “So where is this FBI agent?”
He gestured up the stairs with a toss of his head, “It’s the weirdest thing. I told Michael to keep her busy, and the next thing I know they’re up in his room. I can hear them laughing in there, but I have no idea what’s going on.”
“I told Layla I’d get rid of her.”
“Maybe Michael’s finally getting lucky,” Calvin flashed a faint smile.
Caledonia raised an amused eyebrow, “I suppose I could leave well enough alone.”
The oven timer started beeping. “You hungry?” Calvin asked. “It’s only frozen pizza…”
“That’s fine.” She sat down and watched him check inside the oven. When he returned to the table her face had grown serious.
“I’m afraid I have more bad news,” she said gravely.
Calvin sat down and covered her hand with his. “I know. Just tell me.”
She took a deep breath, “Professor Reed didn’t kidnap Layla for himself. He took her for someone else.”
“Who?
When she told him he blanched.
~
Ramon and Layla arrived to find the two Cals sitting at the kitchen table with a pizza between them. Cali looked up with a sympathetic smile, relieved to see her cousin looking so much better. “Hungry?” she asked.
“No thanks,” Layla said.
Ramon’s eyes cast around the room warily. “Where’s Agent Kim?”
Before they had a chance to answer, Calvin glanced up to see a pretty girl with a long black ponytail come bounding down the stairs with Michael right on her heels. They were lighthearted, giggling like a couple of teenagers, but the girl stopped in her tracks when she saw the serious little group, and by the time she stepped off the last stair all the joviality had slipped from her eyes and her face was arranged into a serious mask.
She cleared her throat, taking them in one by one, but focusing the full force of her suspicious attention onto Layla.
“Hey everyone… What’s going on?” Michael asked, doing a double take at his disheveled sister. “Layla! What ha
ppened to you?”
Agent Kim studied the girl she’d come to interrogate, surprised. Gone was the pulled together preppy she’d seen on the jailhouse surveillance tape. In her place was a shell-shocked waif; the girl looked like she’d been to hell and back, staring over at her with sad haunted eyes.
Cali wiped her hands on a napkin and stood up. Layla could see the colors welling up within her as she rounded the table towards Agent Kim. “I don’t believe we’ve met,” she extended her hand. “I’m Layla’s cousin Cali.”
“Mina Kim,” she replied, shaking Caledonia’s hand with a firm grip. The first thing she thought when she looked into the girl’s blue and green eyes was how striking they were. The second thing she thought was that everything was going to be just fine. An immense feeling of well-being started coursing through her, making the whole idea of questioning Layla seem trivial, insignificant and unimportant.
Michael looked back and forth between the two of them nervously.
Cali gestured around the group. “This is Calvin, and Layla, and you already know Ramon.”
She nodded, “Officer Ruiz.”
“Anybody want some pizza?” Calvin asked.
“We just ate,” Ramon said, watching the interaction between Cali and Agent Kim with fascination. Anyone else would have seen a guest put completely at ease by a gracious host, but now that Ramon knew what Cali was capable of, it was obvious what she’d just done.
“Mina came over to ask Layla a few questions,” Michael explained.
“Surely that can wait for another day,” Cali said, catching the girl’s eye again and administering a powerful dose of lighthearted apathy. “Now is not a good time.”
Agent Kim nodded in agreement. “Sure thing. No problem,” she smiled.
Ramon didn’t have much experience with the all-business FBI Agent, but he knew enough to realize that her relaxed demeanor was completely out of character. He exchanged a glance with Layla.
“Will you stay and eat?” Michael asked Mina hopefully.
“No thanks, I should be on my way. I have an early start tomorrow.” She nodded to Ramon, “I’m meeting the radar crew out at the ranch tomorrow.”
“Oh… that’s good,” he said, trying to sound normal as he fought to keep his jaw from dropping. These girls were truly amazing.
Mina turned to Michael, “It was really nice meeting you.”
“I’ll walk you out,” he replied, heading towards the door with a nervous glance back at Caledonia.
As soon as the door clicked shut Layla visibly relaxed, finally able to let her guard down. “Thanks Cali. I really didn’t feel like dealing with all of that right now.”
“C’mon, Caledonia said, taking her by the arm. I’ll draw you a bath.”
Layla nodded, allowing her cousin to lead her away. She stopped at the base of the stairs to address Ramon, “Will you wait for me?”
He pulled out a chair and sat down. “I’ll be right here.”
After the girls were gone Ramon asked Cal, “Do you ever get used to that? You know… That thing they do?”
“It takes awhile,” Calvin smiled wryly. “And there’s no keeping anything from them.”
After a few minutes Michael came back inside, looking worried and unhappy. “Where’s Layla? What the hell happened to her?”
“You better sit down,” Cal said. Michael reluctantly joined them at the table, looking at Ramon uneasily.
“So what happened to Layla?” he asked again.
Calvin frowned. “Professor Reed tricked her into meeting him. He tried to kidnap her, but Ramon and Cali found her.”
“What? I told her to stay away from him! What was she thinking? Why would she go anywhere near him?”
“She thought she was going to meet her father,” Ramon said.
Michael looked at Ramon and back at Cal.
“It’s okay,” Calvin said, “He knows everything.”
“Everything?!” Michael exclaimed. Before he could say anything else Caledonia came down the stairs and slipped into a chair next to Calvin.
“Layla’s feeling much better,” she announced. “I think she’s gonna be alright.”
“What about Mina?” Michael asked. “She seemed pretty spacy when she left. I hope she’s okay to drive.”
“Don’t worry, she’ll be fine. I only made her lose her curiosity. I’m sure it’ll be back.”
“So am I,” added Ramon.
“Hey–” Calvin interjected, asking Michael, “Exactly what were you doing in your room with the lady cop anyway?”
“She’s a federal agent,” Michael corrected him. “They only handle major crimes, like bank robbery and kidnappings.”
“So what were you doing in your room with the federal agent?” Calvin asked. Ramon leaned forward, curious. He wanted to know too.
“We were playing computer games… It turns out she’s actually a gamer I’ve played online before.”
“Really?” Calvin was surprised. “Small world.”
Cali cleared her throat. “Michael… There’s something else you need to know about what happened today.”
When she spoke Senator Blackwell’s name Michael leapt to his feet in a panic. His stomach twisted as he vividly recalled the piles of bodies they’d left behind as they fled Los Angeles. “Oh my God! He knows we’re alive? That means he probably knows where we live!”
Calvin nodded, adding ominously, “Or he’ll find out real soon.”
Ramon was confused. “The Senator Blackwell? What? Are you sure?”
“We have to leave!” Michael said, pacing the kitchen. “We have to change our names!”
Cali pounded her fist on the table, stopping him in his tracks. “No! I’ve spent enough time running. This is my land. This is where I belong, and I’m staying right here.”
“What does Senator Blackwell want with Layla?” Ramon asked, looking between Cali and Michael. He was surprised at their intensity. “What’s going on? Why are you so afraid of him?”
Calvin and Cali exchanged a look with Michael.
“He’s a cop!” Michael reminded them.
“He also loves your sister,” Caledonia said, meeting Ramon’s shocked eyes.
Calvin smiled wryly, inclining his head towards Ramon. “Like I said, it takes a little getting used to.”
The three of them took turns talking, telling Ramon all about how Layla and Michael were taken from San Francisco by the brutal and ruthless Max, a former employee of the professor. Caledonia described how she’d first freed Layla, only to have her tracked down here last fall and forced back to his compound.
Ramon flared with protective anger when he learned the truth about how she’d been abused. “I knew there was something weird going on that day!” he cried. He still harbored hazy memories of pulling Cali over and seeing a beaten Calvin in the passenger seat. “Why didn’t you just tell me what happened? I would have helped you!”
“We didn’t know you… And Michael was in danger.”
Michael looked down, ashamed, groping for the words to explain. “Max was using me to make Layla do what he wanted the whole time… He made me feel important, and I liked living with him better than Teddy. I didn’t believe Layla when she said he threatened to kill me. He knew how to work her… She’s been protecting me her whole life, only Max was a lot more hardcore than the professor.”
“Until today,” Cali said.
“I still don’t see where the senator comes into all of this,” Ramon said.
The three of them exchanged another glance, and then told him the entire story, explaining their plan to free Layla and Michael, and how it went, awfully, terribly, awry. When they were finished Ramon just sat shaking his head. “And you were too afraid to go to the police.”
“You saw what happened today,” Cali said. “The man is powerful.”
“So, the people running the senator… The mob… You think they’re the ones who killed Max and his crew?”
“I know they are,” said Micha
el. “I tipped off his driver and he called them in that night. It seems they try to keep him on a pretty short leash.”
“They were going to kill everyone in the house to protect him,” Cali said, “Only Layla was able to save herself and Michael.”
Calvin scowled. “The senator is valuable to them, pulling strings for them and awarding their cronies big fat government contracts. Kickbacks… Bribes… They can’t afford to have him compromised. Our plan was to turn Max over to them eventually. We thought we could trade the dirty blackmailer for Layla and Michael.”
“Only we didn’t count on the senator fixating on Layla,” added Caledonia.
“Or on his handlers being so trigger happy,” Michael grumbled.
“So Blackwell came looking for her and the professor sold her out?”
Caledonia nodded. “Layla wrote the professor from Max’s address, so there must have been a link to him at the house.” Her face hardened. “I knew I should have killed Teddy when I had the chance.”
Michael glanced at Ramon, surprised to see him nodding in agreement. “Do you think the senator will come here looking for her?”
“I don’t know.” Cali looked thoughtful. “We were prepared to let the whole thing drop, and I sure don’t think his handlers would be too happy to find out he’s stirring things up again. I’m afraid they’re even more dangerous than he is.”
“Layla and I saw what they did,” Michael added. “We were never supposed to leave that house alive.”
“Maybe it’ll blow over again,” Cali said hopefully. “We should keep a close watch over Layla and keep our eyes open for strangers. It’s possible the senator will give up.”
“Maybe,” Cal said, fielding a skeptical look from Michael.
Ramon nodded with disgusted resignation, looking at Cali. “Do you mind if I crash on the couch tonight? I want to be here just in case.”
“I think that’s a great idea,” Cali said. “I’ll make up a bed.”
“Can I go see her now?” he asked.
Caledonia led Ramon up the stairs, knocking gently and ducking her head in the door to find Layla sitting on the edge of her bed, combing her damp hair. “Is it okay if Ramon comes in?” she asked.
The Caledonian Inheritance (The Athena Effect) Page 21