Daisy’s head bows as she wraps an arm around her stomach.
“There was a man here, a stranger the other day,” I tell Milton, looking over at Daisy, and she nods.
“What was he doing?” Milton asks.
“He was at my parents’ door, he looked at me like he knew me.”
“Did you get a good look at his face?” he asks.
“Yeah,” she shrugs.
“Enough to sit with a profiler to sketch?”
She inhales deeply and looks over at me. “Probably.”
I call my mom as Daisy talks with Milton and tell her what’s going on, before joining them in the house. Putting my arm around her shoulders as she explains what the man looked like, as we sit at her parents’ dining room table. Nathan and Skye get home shortly after and tell us that Abbey and Grayson are both staying at my parents’ house. They stand just outside and talk to Milton and I try to listen in, but can’t make out much more than Milton is doing everything he can to figure this out. When the drawing’s done, Daisy glances at it for a moment to make sure it’s correct, before looking away.
“Yes, that’s him,” she tells the female officer.
It’s written all over her face that it sickens her to think this man might have been there for her, that she spoke to him, that he was so close. Taking her hand, we walk outside and join her parents’ and Milton.
“All set?” Milton asks and Daisy nods.
“So when will you have results on the blood upstairs?” I ask.
“Within the next few days,” he says. “You’re free to go in and clean up upstairs, I think we have everything we need.”
Skye goes into the house and retrieves garbage bags and some rubber gloves for cleaning. I wonder if Daisy’s nervous to have them see the damage, but she says nothing as we walk upstairs. Walking through the door, it still shocks me just as much as the first time. I hear Skye gasp and Nathan mumble a few curse words under his breath.
“Help me upstairs?” Daisy asks looking over at me.
I nod and lead the way, and I reach for the mess on the bed.
“Just toss it all,” she tells me and I see her eyes watering as she says this.
I reach down and take the end of the comforter, bundling it up with all the stuff falling into the middle. She holds open a bag as I push it inside.
“You should be happy,” I say, and our eyes connect. “You get to pick out all the new toys,” I whisper.
She gives me a small smile, but it does nothing to lift her spirits. When we’re finished cleaning up the debris up there, we move downstairs to help her parents. Broken glass clatters into an outdoor garbage can Nathan brought in, as they clean the kitchen. I watch as Daisy cleans up all her broken art supplies, her broken easel, drawings from her notepads that are in shreds, hearing her sniffle. She lifts up the work she’d been doing for the book, and my heart hurts for her. I can’t imagine how she feels or what’s going through her mind. I collect all the photos I see and know I can reassemble them somehow, setting them aside to work on. A few hours later we’re finished with the mess, and Skye tells Daisy she’s going to have someone come in and repaint and fix everything by the weekend.
“Not like I can come back anytime soon anyway,” Daisy retorts.
I’m surprised by this, yeah she’s mad, but I’ve never heard her talk to her parents like that.
“I’m sorry Daisy-”
“Sorry, Daisy, but this is your fault, so…” she adds, cutting Skye off.
“No one’s saying that,” Skye says.
“But you’re thinking it,” Daisy lashes in a harsh tone.
“No, we’re not,” Skye states.
“Oh please, you guys have been waiting for shit to go wrong just to prove to us that we shouldn’t be together, that school’s best for us, you think this will break us up.”
The three of us look at one another, confused by her thinking.
“Daisy,” Nathan says calmly, putting his hand out. “We know you’re stressed, just calm down.”
“Stressed?” Daisy almost laughs. “Stressed Dad? Try embarrassed, ashamed, mortified, crushed, ruined, stressed doesn’t even register.” Then she looks at me. “You know what Milton’s trying to tell me? That it’s you, that you’re doing this just to keep me closer to you, to push everyone else away.”
“Yeah, but it’s not me.”
“You’re the only one besides me that has those photos!” she yells.
“You can’t be serious?” I ask in disbelief.
“Come on Wyatt, what else am I supposed to think?”
“Uh, that it’s someone who wants to hurt you, I’d never fucking put you through this.”
“You did already, with the fake I.D.’s. I think you liked seeing me scared and in trouble…you were gone a long time last night, just to drop my dad’s truck off.”
“I was outside your piece of shit ex’s ready to kill his ass, don’t let that fucking asshole Milton put shit in your head.” I point a finger.
“Okay you guys,” Skye says.
“No, I could never do something like this, I can’t believe you’re even thinking this!” I tell her, my voice raising.
“Stop,” Nathan says looking between Daisy and me. “Just chill for a minute all right, don’t say things you’re gonna regret.”
Skye moves toward Daisy, putting her hands on her shoulders as she consoles her daughter.
“She’s upset,” Nathan says quietly to me.
“I can see that-”
“And I know you’re upset too.” He adds, “Just take a breath and calm down, this isn’t helping, she needs you.”
“I’m going to take Daisy back over to Missy’s,” Skye says, putting an arm around Daisy, who’s looking at the floor.
“I’ll take you,” I say.
“I think it might be better if you guys give each other some space, and I’m not saying that to keep you guys apart,” she amends.
“No, Daisy, this is what this fucker wants, to keep us apart,” I state.
“Wyatt,” Nathan says in a lowered tone.
I inhale deeply, my insides feeling like fire in my belly. Anger is raging through me, and the way Daisy isn’t looking at me furthers the fear that she really thinks I’m the one doing this.
“Daisy please,” I plead.
“I’ll call you later,” she says, still not looking at me.
Skye begins for the door, leading her out along with her. Putting my hands on my hips, I look up at the ceiling. I remain like this until I hear Missy’s SUV start and I’m alone in the loft. Normally, before Daisy, I’d drink to stop this feeling. But that was before her, and it’s a foreign experience to me now and out of place. Bringing my head back down, my eyes land on the photos I’d set aside and decide that might be a better thing for me to do to take my mind off what’s happening.
Sitting in my room, I work at my desk, arranging the shredded pieces of photos before meticulously gluing them back together as Dry the River “No Rest” plays. There are a few of Daisy and Irys over the years, one of Daisy and her parents’ after a championship game Daisy won in volleyball, she’s smiling so brightly, and I want to see her like that again soon. My phone sits beside me on the desk, and I can’t stop glancing at it, waiting for the call Daisy promised. It unsettles me that she’s alone. Yes, Missy is there, and I know my grandma and Daisy herself can handle it if someone comes there. But not being able to protect her, or comfort her, is eating me up. I know my presence there right now though would probably hurt her more than anything. In my heart of hearts, I have to believe that doesn’t think that it’s me causing her this pain, that maybe she draws some sort of control if she knows who’s doing this. Finally, I grab my phone and send her a text.
I’m pretty sure you’re not going to call me, but I will do anything to prove to you that I’m not the one putting you through this. I know I’ve hurt you in the past, every day I live with knowing that I’ve been the reason you’ve cried before. I love you mo
re than you will ever know, and I hope I’ve shown that to you, enough that you know it kills me to see you like this. Whoever it is, wants to tear us apart, and they’re only succeeding because I’m here and you’re there. I love you, Daisy.
I close out my messages and lock my phone, crashing onto my bed for a restless night’s sleep.
When my alarm goes off for work the next morning, I see no new messages and almost can’t believe it. Before leaving for the garage, I gather the dried photos from my desk and put them in my pocket. It takes a will I didn’t know I possessed to head straight to work and not go by my grandma’s, but Daisy obviously needs some time alone, even if I disagree, I have to respect that. The auto shop is already open and business is going on, but I can’t get my head in the game. Nathan tells me after we work on a car together, that he talked to Daisy this morning, and that she was okay.
“Well, I’m glad someone is,” I mumble in response.
He pats the back of my shoulder with a clap, then walks the customer over to the front desk. It’s hotter than shit so I decide to go take a break before my next customer and head for my mom’s office. She’s sitting at her desk looking at something on her computer, as my dad stands beside her looking down at some papers, causing them both to look up as I enter.
“Hey babe,” Mom greets me as I bend down to her mini fridge and grab a water bottle.
“Hey,” I reply, sitting down at one of the chairs in front of the desk.
“Nolan says hi,” she says not looking at me, him and Evan are off on the east coast working on a construction deal.
“Show me last month,” Dad says to her as he glances at the computer from the papers.
Her office phone begins to ring and without looking she presses a button and answers it on speaker.
“Maven, it’s Milton.”
Causing all of us to look at the phone.
“Milton, hi, what’s up?”
“Is Skye there? I can’t get through on her line.”
Either from hearing Milton’s voice or her name, both Skye and Nathan come in through the door a moment later.
“I’m here,” Skye says.
“Okay, we got the results of the substance on Daisy’s bed.”
I feel my chest tighten, fear gripping me in a way I’ve never experienced before.
“It’s pig’s blood,” Milton tells us.
“Pig’s blood?” Nathan repeats with furrowed brows.
“Looks like it.”
My phone chirps and my heart beats faster, hoping it’s Daisy. Pulling it from my back pocket, seeing it is her and sighing as I open the message up.
Daisy: Courtney.
My brow furrow looking down at the message, what does that even mean?
“The prints also come back to a…” Milton pauses and the sound of papers shuffling comes through the other end. “A Ms. Courtney Bennett,” he states
“Who’s that?” Skye asks looking around at us at the unfamiliar name.
“I’ll fax you over her driver’s license photo,” Milton says.
I press call on Daisy’s name and hold the phone to my ear, listening to it ring repeatedly before it clicks over to voicemail and I hang up. I open the messages again and text her.
Me: what’s going on, answer your phone.
My mom wheels her chair over to the fax machine as it comes through and pulls the paper out, looking at it then shaking her head in not recognizing her before turning it toward the rest of us.
“Holy shit,” I blurt out as I stand, taking the paper from my mom. “She works at that fucking club Daisy likes, uh…she’s a bartender.”
“Do you think it’s her that could be doing this?” Skye asks me with worried eyes.
“She knows where Daisy lives,” I tell them.
I look at the photo and see this is old because she doesn’t really look like what I remember. But I recognize her like this too, but I don’t know from where.
“She doesn’t look like that anymore, she has black hair and tattoos.”
“I’m going to call Daisy,” Skye says, rushing back to her desk.
“I can’t reach her,” I state.
“I’ve dispatched a car over to Missy’s already,” Milton tells us. “Hold on.”
It sounds like he muffles the phone with his palm as I watch my dad take his cell phone out, his eyes downcast as it rings.
“Mom, call me when you get this,” he says then ends the call.
“There’s no answer,” Skye says returning and looking up at Nathan with an expression of fear.
“I sent an officer over to Ms. Bennett’s in Bannister, she’s not there…but he said there’s evidence that she’s the one-”
“What does that mean?” I cut in.
“There’s photos, and…other things,” he stops.
“What does that mean?” Skye repeats.
“I’m sorry- I’m getting information as I’m talking with you-I’m just now getting the results of her record. Looks like a few speeding tickets, parking ticket- oh, here we go. Looks like a breaking and entering- charges dropped, stalking-charges dropped, vandalism- charges dropped, attempted abduction…and the officers said they see cases of bullets for a 9 millimeter.”
“Oh God,” Skye gasps.
“Come on,” Nathan says to me.
“I’m coming too,” my dad says.
“Try calling Daisy again,” Nathan tells Skye.
The three of us get into my dad’s SUV and as I sit in the back while I continue calling Daisy.
“Her calls are going to voicemail now,” I announce.
“Chilly says this chick is the one who also started the internet shit,” Dad says as he looks at his phone.
Pulling up to my grandma’s, there’s a squad car in the driveway and an ambulance parked there. My stomach bottoms out as panic strangles my heart. The back doors are open, and Grandma’s sitting there holding something to her forehead and crying as she talks to the officer. She stands as she notices me and my dad rushing to her, while Nathan runs in through the opened front door.
“I’m sorry Wyatt,” Grandma says to me, reaching out for my arm.
“What happened?” I ask, looking her over for injuries before my eyes dart around the property and inside the ambulance for Daisy but she’s not there.
“I went to go put the trash out in the garbage cans by the garage, then I woke up on the ground,” she says with watery eyes.
“Where’s Daisy?” I ask as I hear Nathan yelling her name throughout the house.
“I don’t know.” Grandma shakes her head and then covers her face with her free hand.
“Where the fuck is she?” Nathan says to the officer, getting right in his face.
“Nathan,” I say putting and arm across his chest.
“I don’t know,” the officer says putting his hands up.
“Call Milton and get his ass here and someone looking for her!”
The Officer presses the buttons on either side of his walkie, turning his head to speak into it affixed to his shoulder.
“Fuck, what do we do?” Nathan says, looking as helpless as I feel and holding Daisy’s phone.
But this doesn’t actually seem real, there’s no way she’s gone, she can’t be. She wouldn’t let someone just take her, she’d fight and do everything she could to get free before being taken somewhere. But then I wonder if Courtney had a gun, or people helping her, and the thought makes me sick. Milton pulls up to a screeching halt as he parks in the street and gets out. He starts saying how he sent out Courtney’s license plate number and how she can’t be far, while he hands me a stack of paperwork.
“Does that description sound more like her appearance now?” he asks me.
Looking down at the papers as I read her record, seeing that next to where all those charges were pressed then dropped, were from the same city, the city my university’s located.
“Does she go to school?” I ask Milton, like that’s important right now.
�
��Hanover,” he replies looking at me in question.
And it’s then I place her face, knowing immediately how I recognize her, and a cold chill runs through me.
22
DAISY
I’m trying not to panic, trying being the key word. My hands are duct taped behind my back, my knees tucked up to my chest in this hot, pitch black trunk. My head’s still foggy, and I’m just piecing together the events that got me here in the first place. I hope Missy’s okay, seeing her lying on the ground as Courtney forced me to her car at gunpoint, just about tore my heart out. I can’t imagine if something happened to her how it will affect the family, since just losing Sven.
I was just finally working up the nerve to text Wyatt back, finally getting myself together because I knew deep down Wyatt wasn’t behind this. But it felt good to blame someone, to have a focus for the anger. Then once I recognized what I was doing, guilt hit me and all I wanted was to see him after he got off work…then Courtney showed up. When she came to the door, I didn’t know why she was there or how she knew where I was.
“I saw Irys at the mall, told me you could use a visit,” she said through the door.
My phone still in my hand as I unlocked the dead bolt and opened the solid wood front door. She gives me a bright smile and holds up two to-go cups.
“Hi, brought coffee.”
I give her a small smile and step aside for her to come inside, looking down at my grubby attire of a t-shirt and Wyatt’s PJ pants, and cringe for her seeing me looking like this. She steps into the foyer and hands me the coffee, shifting a massive messenger bag on her hip.
“This is a great house,” she says looking around.
“Yeah,” I reply closing and locking the door, sipping my coffee and pulling a face.
“Sorry, it’s just black, I didn’t know what you liked,” she says laughing at my expression.
“No, it’s fine, thank you. I was just watching a movie,” I say, opening my arm to show her the way.
Following behind her and looking down at my phone, I guess my message will have to wait. Courtney sits on one of the couches and I glance out the back patio doors for Missy who said she was taking the garbage out, but knowing her she’s probably talking to a neighbor out there since it’s been a while and I can’t see her.
Use Somebody: Plantain Series Book Four Page 24