by Blythe, Jane
Malachi closed the door behind them. The thunk echoed ominously with an air of finality. And Maegan wondered if she would ever leave this house again.
NOVEMBER 3rd
10:00 P.M.
10:06 P.M.
Running.
Laura was always running.
Behind her someone was laughing.
Even though she didn’t turn around, he was suddenly in front of her.
The man who had destroyed her life.
He didn’t speak, but he didn’t need to.
The gun he held in his hand spoke volumes.
As he raised the gun, she screamed.
Laura knew who the bullet was going to hit.
Jack’s old partner—Rose Lace.
But when she turned her head, it wasn't Rose standing beside her. It was Jack.
The boom of the gun echoed inside her head.
Mixing with her scream.
The bullet plowed into Jack’s chest.
A bright red spot exploded on his shirt, growing steadily bigger.
With a gasp, she sprang awake.
Disoriented, Laura couldn’t remember where she was, but she felt Jack’s arms around her. Slowly things trickled back into her sluggish mind. They were at the hospital because Sofia had fainted. Jack had insisted that she get some rest. Laura had thought she wasn't tired, but the second she had closed her eyes she must have fallen asleep. And then she’d dreamed.
She could tell Jack knew the second she woke up because his voice whispered, “It’s all right, Laura, I'm here. You're okay.”
Shuddering, Laura just rested against her husband, trying to convince herself that it had only been a dream. That Jack was fine. That he hadn’t been shot. That he wasn't dead. That he wasn't going to die on her.
“You had a nightmare,” Jack stated grimly.
Not lifting her head from his shoulder, Laura nodded.
“It’s been a couple of months since you had one. This is too stressful for you. I'm going to take you home.” She could feel his muscles tightening, ready to stand up with her.
Too weary to protest, Laura thought maybe he was right. Maybe this was just too stressful for her right now. Maybe she should go home. Go to bed. Maybe they’d let Zach stay the night with his grandparents and she’d take a sleeping pill. She didn’t like the way they made her feel the next day, but they did stop her from dreaming.
“Laura?” a timid voice spoke beside them.
Rousing herself, Laura lifted her head and forced open her heavy eyes. The headache she’d had before hadn’t diminished with sleep; in fact, it was worse. However, her ordeal had forced her to learn to compartmentalize pain, so now she pushed it away.
“Hi, Alice.” She mustered a smile for the teenager.
The girl’s blue eyes narrowed in concern. “Are you all right? Is this a bad time?”
“No, its fine.” With near Herculean effort, Laura pushed herself up off Jack’s chest so she was sitting upright. “Did you want to talk?”
Her gaze darted to Jack. “I don’t want to interrupt.”
“You're not,” she assured the girl. “Jack, let me up.”
Somewhat reluctantly, Jack stood with her in his arms then set her on her feet, keeping an arm around her until he was sure she was steady enough on her feet to remain standing. “I'm going to go and see about getting you something for that headache. Come get me if you need me,” Jack ordered. Taking hold of her chin, he tilted her face up and kissed her. “Don’t go far, and stay where there’s plenty of people.”
“I will,” she promised. She was too tired to move more than a few feet away from where she was right now, anyway. “I'm glad you came back.” She smiled at Alice.
“Was that your husband?”
“Yes, that was Jack.”
“He’s worried about you.” A wistful look flashed across the girl’s face.
“Yeah, he is,” Laura nodded. If Jack had his way, she’d probably be in a hospital bed right now.
“He’s protective of you, too,” Alice added.
“Mmhmm,” she agreed. Laura always felt safe with Jack; she knew he would do anything to protect her.
“Should you be sitting down? You don’t look so great.” Alice was looking at her with concern.
“Just a little headache.” She smiled reassuringly. “Let’s go sit over here where it’s a little quieter.” She led the girl to a corner of the waiting room. Laura couldn’t quite keep a small sigh from escaping her lips as she sank back down into a chair.
“Are you sure everything is okay with your baby?” Alice sat beside her.
Ignoring the thumping in her head, she replied, “The baby is fine. Really, it’s just a headache. I get them when I'm stressed.”
Understanding flooded Alice’s eyes. “What are you stressed about?”
Laura hated this part of building trust and rapport. She was going to have to tell Alice what had happened to her if she wanted the girl to tell her what had happened to her. “I suffer from agoraphobia,” she confessed. “I don’t like to be out in public, and being around lots of people makes me really uncomfortable.”
Another flash of understanding. “How did you know?” Alice asked. “How did you know that something was wrong? How did you know that I needed help?”
“Just a feeling,” Laura replied.
“But you knew as soon as you saw me. How?”
Stifling a sigh, she may as well just get it over with. “Ever since I was kidnapped, I can just sense when someone has been through something terrible.”
Her eyes grew wide like huge, blue saucers. “You were kidnapped?”
“Fifteen years ago, while I was in college. I was taken to the woods and tortured for four days before some hikers accidentally stumbled upon me, and I was rescued.” Laura spoke the words dully, like they were nothing to do with her, like what had happened was really someone else’s story.
Alice was looking at her in horror. Laura really hated how it changed the way people saw her once they knew what had happened to her. “Is that why you're agoraphobic?”
“Yes. They held me in the woods, chased me when they weren’t hurting me, then at night they kept me in a hole in the ground. After the court case, I moved away from my family and stayed in my apartment for ten years.”
Hope lit Alice’s face. “The people who hurt you are in jail?”
“Two of them. At the time, I didn’t know there was a third man involved. I thought it was all just random. But it turned out someone else was involved, too, and he hurt a lot of people to get to me again. One good thing came out of it, though. Jack came back into my life, and he helped me get my life back.”
“What happened to that man? He’s not in jail? Did he get away?” Panic flared in the girl’s eyes.
“He’s dead. He came after me. He shot Jack’s partner. He was going to rape me and then kill me. I killed him first,” she explained emotionlessly.
“Your husband is a cop?”
“Yes.” That answer seemed to please the girl. “Okay, I told you my horror story; it’s your turn, Alice.”
The teenager hesitated for barely a second. “My name isn’t really Alice,” she confessed.
“Did you make up the name so I wouldn’t know who you really were if you decided not to talk to me?”
“No.” The girl’s voice dropped to a whisper. “He calls me Alice.”
“Who’s he?” Laura asked. She had a bad feeling about this. She was sensing that Alice, or whoever the girl really was, was in a lot more trouble than she’d first thought.
Alice’s eyes darted nervously around the emergency room waiting area. She lifted a hand to her mouth and began to chew on one of her fingernails.
“What’s your real name?” Laura asked instead, giving the girl some time to ready herself to tell her story. Laura knew the feeling.
“Maegan,” the teenager replied softly.
“Maegan what?”
“I'd rather not say, in case …” sh
e trailed off.
“In case what, honey?” Laura prompted.
“In case you can't help me in time.”
“What do you need me to do for you? I can't help you unless you tell me, Maegan.”
Maegan’s blue eyes filled with tears and words came tumbling out of her mouth as tears tumbled down her cheeks. “He kidnapped me. Five years ago. He grabbed me while I was at a gas station with my mom. Not just me. He kidnapped three other girls, too. He took us to this house. He kept us locked up there all this time. He’s crazy. Completely insane. He thinks that we’re his daughters. His real daughters died. In a fire, I think. So he took us to replace them. Only, I think he really believes that we’re them,” Maegan finished with a sob.
For a moment, Laura didn’t know what to say. She put her arms around the teenager and held her while she cried. She hadn’t been expecting to hear that Maegan had been abducted. She’d been expecting a story of abuse, maybe sexual or physical, perhaps problems with a boyfriend, or maybe a date rape.
“Maegan?” Gently, she sat the girl back up, keeping hold of her shoulders for added reassurance. “What’s the name of the man who did this to you?”
She sniffled. “His name is Malachi. I don’t know his last name.”
“When we first met, you said you were here because your sister was sick; is that true?”
“Yes, we brought my older sister, Ariyel, here tonight.”
“Is Ariyel her real name?”
She hesitated slightly. “No, it’s not.”
“What’s her real name?” Laura prompted when the girl didn’t offer up a response.
“I don’t know if I should say.”
“Why not? We can't find your families if we don’t know your names.” Laura was wondering why the girl was holding back. “Before, you said you didn’t want to tell me your surname in case we couldn’t help you in time. What is it you’re afraid of?”
“Malachi is crazy, but smart. And charming, too, in a creepy sort of way.” Maegan shuddered. “I'm scared that he’s going to be able to convince the police that we really are his kids and that I'm just crazy. You need proof, proof that we’re really missing kids, but I don’t know the real names of my little sisters, and Ariyel is still unconscious, so she can't back me up. If you don’t get proof of who we really are before Ariyel gets released, then he’ll leave with us.”
“But if we know who you are, then we’ll have proof he kidnapped someone. Your sisters will be put into foster care until we figure out who they really are.” Laura attempted to reason with the teenager.
Maegan didn’t look convinced. “Malachi is so smart, I can't risk it. What if he panics and takes the little girls back to his house and leaves me and Ariyel behind? They’re just little kids and he’d have them all to himself; they'd have no protection.”
The girl wasn't thinking logically. She was only a teenager and scared. She’d been kidnapped and locked away from the world for five years. For the moment, Laura was just going to have to go with it. She’d convince her to give up her name and the other missing kids later. “How many little sisters do you have?”
“Three.”
Laura was confused. “You said that Malachi kidnapped you and three other girls, but you also said that Ariyel was your older sister. That only leaves two other kids.”
“Angela and Abby were the other two kids he kidnapped. Angela was only four and Abby was just a baby, that’s why we only know their first names and not their surnames.”
Laura didn’t have to ask if Angela and Abby were the girls’ actual names; she knew they weren’t. They were the names Malachi had given them. “The baby, Arianna. You mentioned her earlier. Is she Ariyel’s daughter? Ariyel and Malachi’s?”
Maegan gave a minute nod.
“He forced himself on her?” Laura asked gently, wondering whether Malachi had done the same to Maegan.
Another tiny nod. “Ariyel was eighteen when Malachi kidnapped us. She fought him. All the time. It made him so mad. She was always trying to figure out a way for us to escape. She nearly managed it one time. But Malachi stopped us. I'd never seen him so angry. He took Ariyel away. He did something to her—brainwashed her or something. She was different after that. And he drugs her. Most of the time, she’s so out of it, she really does think she's Ariyel.”
“Do you know what’s wrong with her?”
“No.”
“What about your little sisters; where are they?” Laura scanned the waiting area, but she couldn’t see a group of three little girls.
“I hid them,” Maegan replied. “Malachi won't leave here without them.”
“Where?”
“I can't tell you.” Maegan’s gaze met hers squarely, her blue eyes full of grim determination. “Not until I'm sure that you can help us.”
“All right.” Laura stood, ignoring the thumping in her head and the swirling of nausea in her stomach. “Let’s go find my husband and tell him your story.”
* * * * *
10:14 P.M.
Malachi stood and watched the sleeping woman.
He seethed with hatred toward her for all she’d put him through. And yet, at the same time, he loved her deeply.
She was his daughter, after all.
Ariyel was his oldest daughter, and the one who had always caused him the most trouble.
The others were fairly docile. Although, Ariyel’s bad influence appeared to be beginning to rub off on Alice. He would have to put that girl in her place. Let her know that he was the one in charge.
He’d done it with Ariyel when her behavior had become unmanageable. And it had worked like a charm. After that, he’d never had another problem with her.
Until tonight.
Well, granted, it wasn't really her fault.
She couldn’t help being sick.
But still, having to bring her to the hospital was an inconvenience he didn’t need right now.
It was risky to take the girls out in public.
That’s why he never did.
He couldn’t protect them out here.
At home, they were safe. Safe from anyone who might want to hurt them.
And there were a lot of bad people in the world who would love nothing more than to destroy beautiful young women.
Malachi was proud of his daughters.
They were very beautiful.
They all had silky black hair, just like his. And his bright, piercing blue eyes. They were smart, too.
It was his job to protect them.
And he took it very seriously.
There was nothing that Malachi wouldn’t do to protect his family. He would lie. He would cheat. He would steal. He would kill.
In a second.
Killing didn’t bother him.
All that bothered him was keeping his family safe.
No one was going to get in between him and his daughters.
No one.
He would take out anyone who even considered it.
But the longer they remained at the hospital, the greater the chances that someone could figure things out.
Maybe he shouldn’t have listened to Alice and brought Ariyel here. Usually, he didn’t let the kids dictate what he did, but Alice had been in a complete panic when she couldn’t wake Ariyel up.
When one of his daughters was sick, he typically treated them himself. But this had been different. Ariyel had been unconscious, completely unresponsive, her pulse had been weak, and her blood pressure low.
Malachi had been concerned. Had he been feeding her too many sedatives? He crushed them up and put them in her food every day. He had to keep her drugged to keep her under control. She was a little spitfire.
But what if he’d overdone it? Unintentionally given her an overdose.
As much as Ariyel could drive him crazy, he didn’t want her to die.
He couldn’t imagine his life without her.
Crossing to the bed, he carefully lifted one of her limp hands.
“Ariyel
?”
She didn’t respond either to his grip on her hand or his voice.
A tinge of real concern gripped him.
The doctors didn’t know what was wrong with her yet, but they'd taken blood. No doubt they would detect the sedatives in her system. He would have to come up with a convincing lie.
He could claim post-partum depression.
But that may lead to questions about the baby’s father.
He could claim grief. Say that his wife had just died and that Ariyel was grieving her mother.
But that may lead to doctors wanting to question the other girls.
He could claim he hadn’t known that Ariyel was taking anything.
But that may make him look like a bad father.
And what would Ariyel say when she woke up?
The doctors would no doubt question her about why she had been taking sedatives and if she had purposefully swallowed too many.
If they suspected she was suicidal, they would want to commit her.
Without her daily dose of tranquilizers, he couldn’t guarantee that she wouldn’t tell everything to the first person who asked. Sure, it hadn’t just been the drugs that had gotten her under control. He had put a lot of time and effort into breaking her down and building her back up again to be his daughter. But the drugs were key to keeping her in check.
It would be a disaster if some psychiatrist got their hands on her.
Or what if what was wrong with Ariyel had nothing to do with the drugs?
What if it were something more serious?
What if it were something terminal?
What if Ariyel was dying?
How could he live without her?
She was his oldest child. He loved her despite her problems.
And she was so good with her little sisters. If it weren’t for her, Alice, Angela, Abigail, and Arianna wouldn’t be such good sweet children. Alice really looked up to her, wanted to be just like her when she got older.
Which was both a good and a bad thing.