A minute later, her mother came on the line. “It’s about time you called.”
“Mercy Cross Hospital was busy tonight in the emergency room. I didn’t know you wanted to talk with me. You have my cell number. Why didn’t you contact me that way?”
“This isn’t a conversation we need to have where people might overhear it.”
Kate shot forward in her chair. “Why?”
“I’m pulling your funding starting immediately.”
6
The glare of light from a lone bulb dangling from the basement ceiling assaulted Rose’s eyes. She closed them for a few seconds, then with her hand partially shielding them, she slowly eased her eyelids up. The staircase loomed before her. She moved toward freedom.
Dank, musky air enclosed Rose from all sides. Sweat rolled down her face in rivulets. The urge to run up the steps went through her. But the disorientation she’d suffered in the room plagued her. She had to be smart if she was going to escape. She couldn’t make a sound. Creeping up the stairs, she latched onto the railing, her legs wobbly from exhaustion and lack of food.
How long had she been in the Deprivation Room? It could have been hours. Days. Even weeks. Time had come to a halt in the darkness with no contact with the outside world.
At the top of the stairs before the door that led out, Rose reached for the knob. Her hand shook so badly that she paused and curled it then flexed it to steady herself.
She tried again to grasp the handle. Again, the trembling started in her fingertips and quickly spread up her arm and throughout her body. She hugged herself and dropped her head, closing her eyes.
I can do this. I have to. I’ve got to save Lily and get back to Beacon of Hope.
The words echoed through her mind with a hollow ring as though to taunt her with her foolish dreams. How in the world had she thought she could get Lily away from King? She was one girl against a man who had an army of people to help him keep his merchandise, as he loved to refer to the teens working for him, in his possession.
You can do anything with the Lord on your side, Rose.
The sound of Kate’s calm voice floated through her mind, nudging the doubts to the side. Kate had been right. In the six months Rose had been at Beacon of Hope, she’d completed her freshman year of high school course work and had gotten a job. She’d started a saving account for a car. She’d helped others, especially Cynthia.
I can do this.
Lifting her hand, she tried again. Her fingers gripped about the metal knob, cool to the touch, and slowly she turned it to the right. She held her breath until her chest burned. She exhaled in a rush.
Inch by inch she eased the door open enough to squeeze through the gap. Cool air-conditioned air bathed her damp face and drew her forward out into the empty hallway. Muted, gray light pooled at one end of the hall while the other beckoned her with darkness.
So far so good. As carefully as she had opened the door, Rose closed it, not a sound made. Scouting out the area in front and behind her, she determined the fastest way to escape the house—she hoped. Then she slinked down the corridor, passed King’s office, toward the dim illumination, her ears attuned for any noise.
The chimes of a clock struck and a small gasp issued from her. She halted, not a muscle moving. Then the timepiece echoed a second and third clang and stopped. Three at night or in the afternoon. She couldn’t tell, and that gave her a sense of disorientation as if she was back in her cell.
After several heartbeats and quiet ruled again, Rose tiptoed a couple of yards and turned the corner. Before her was a wide foyer with a large round table, a bowl of cut flowers sitting in the middle of it. Behind it, massive double doors sporting brass handles, called to her. The darkness in the narrow windows on either side of the doors told her it was three in the morning. Her first break. It would be easier for her to flee under cover of darkness.
Again, the impulse to race across the entry hall and out the front door rose up inside her. No, patience was what she needed. Kate would be proud of her for not hurrying through a task that needed to be done right. Over the months, she’d taught her to assess all her options then decide what to do.
She crept painstakingly slow across the foyer and placed her hand on the knob. She began to turn it when a thought struck her and she froze. What about the alarm system? Could it go off if she opened the door? In her eagerness, she had almost forgotten.
She searched the dark shadows for the security system. A tiny green light glowed in the dimness a few feet from the entrance. She made her way toward the beacon. There was just enough illumination, coming from a room off to the side so she could decipher the numbers on the keypad and the fact that the security system wasn’t on. This meant that King was home. He often didn’t arm it unless he was gone. She sagged against the wall in relief because she still had a chance. Most likely King was in bed, but more importantly, the alarm wouldn’t go off and alert his minions to a break-in. In her case, a breakout.
Quickening her pace slightly, she crossed to the front door and reached for the handle. The closer she came to escaping, the faster her heart thudded against her ribcage. Its rhythmic beat pulsated through her head, a loud tempo that drowned out her harsh breathing.
She inched the door open. The hot night air rushed in. The scent of the outdoors gave her the courage to hurry a little more. Almost free. Her mouth watered at the thought of getting away.
This time she would do things right. She would get to a phone and call Kate. Tell her about King and where she was. Maybe Kate could bring the police, and Lily could be freed too. That heady thought pushed her even faster out onto an all too familiar large porch. Moonlight streamed across part of its wooden planks, casting its softness onto white wicker furniture at one end, while the other captured the blackness and held on to it.
She started forward, no longer as cautious about making noise. A sound to her left snagged her attention. A red glow in the dark that hadn’t been there seconds before sent her pulse speeding through her.
She whirled around and collided into a wall of muscle. Arms encircled her and pinned her. As the sound of footsteps neared, she was swung around, facing outward. Facing the red glimmer that moved closer toward her. Out of the shadows materialized King, lifting a cigarette to his mouth. He drew in the smoke then blew it out, making rings.
The scent of tobacco accosted Rose’s nostrils. It reminded her of the times she’d had to be with a man and her stomach flip-flopped. Bile rose into her throat.
King dropped the cigarette and ground it beneath his boot, then raised his gaze to hers. “Did you really think I was gonna let you escape?” He laughed, its insidious sound hammering at her composure. “I thought it would be fun to see how long it would take you to pick the lock and try to leave. Over a day. That’s why I left you your tools. You must have gone soft while at that place. Did you really think I didn’t know you had them?”
She tried to jerk away, but the hands that held her dug into the flesh of her upper arms until she cried out.
“That’s okay. I can toughen you up. Give you a reason to think twice before trying to leave me again.”
She gnashed her teeth together. “Where’s Lily?”
“Ah, don’t you worry about her. She’s served her purpose.”
The icy thread in King’s voice knifed through Rose, and she shuddered. “What do you mean?”
He nodded toward the man behind her. “Now for our first lesson in following my directions.”
“Why are you pulling the funding, Mother?” Kate asked, her grip on the phone so tight her hand ached.
“I heard what happened today.”
The disapproval she always heard from her mother came over the line loud and clear. Kate collapsed back in her chair behind her desk. “What did you hear?”
“The suicide attempt by one of your students. The police were called in. The Winslows don’t get involved with the police. This school/shelter thing, whatever you call it, is getting too
messy and . . .” Her mom’s tersely controlled anger sputtered to a stop.
“How did you hear?” Was it someone at Beacon of Hope, the police, or the hospital? The thought that a person reported to her mother about what happened bothered her. If it was the police or hospital, that was one thing she could accept even though she didn’t like it, but if it was someone here, she needed to figure out who. She couldn’t have a spy in her midst.
“That’s not important, and you won’t be able to use your trust. Your grandmother put a clause in the trust that said I had final say on how you used the money until you’re thirty. That’s not for a while yet.”
Shocked by the news of the clause, Kate nearly dropped the phone. “When did she do that? She never said anything about that when she told me about the trust fund.”
“Did you really think I would give you unlimited access to her money without some safeguards? I convinced her to add it not long before she died. It wasn’t hard after that little incident in Costa Sierra.”
“Little! I’d hardly call it something little when a young girl from the village was sold into prostitution because the parents didn’t have enough money to live on. All I wanted to do was buy Maria back and give them money so they wouldn’t sell her again.” That incident changed her life over twelve years ago— gave her a purpose other than being a rich, spoiled debutante who did what her parents deemed appropriate for her station in life.
“You went to find the man the father dealt with. You could have been kidnapped for a ransom. I didn’t want you to go on a mission trip in the first place, but the sponsors assured me it was safe. I shouldn’t have given in to you. I regret that every day.”
The face of Maria would haunt her as Rose’s did. Kate fortified herself with the knowledge she wasn’t going to give up now. She would find a way around her mother. “It’s been a long day. May we talk about this tomorrow?”
“It won’t change anything, but come to the luncheon I’m having on Saturday. We can talk afterwards. Good night, Katherine.”
Kate punched the off button and let the receiver drop into her lap. Drained emotionally and physically, she closed her eyes, her arms falling to her sides. She’d always depended on her trust as a fallback in case her mother pulled the funding for the program. Her mother made sure she was kept in the dark about the added clause. Kate had known she didn’t have any access to the money until she’d turned twenty-five, but not this. Her mother probably did it so she wouldn’t go out and seek other donors for Beacon of Hope. This way her mother remained in control, which was paramount to her.
She’d go on Saturday and use that time to approach others to fund her program. The luncheon was for one of her mother’s pet projects—Mercy Cross Hospital. She was raising money for a new children’s wing, and yet her mother didn’t care about the girls at Beacon of Hope. It was all in the image. The Winslows weren’t allowed to sully their hands by actually working with the downtrodden, especially after what happened in Costa Sierra. Throwing money at the cause was acceptable, but that was all.
She couldn’t turn these girls away, not now when she was making some progress. They deserved a second chance. She personally had enough money to keep the program open until the end of the month. That gave her three weeks to come up with a miracle.
An image of Maria, when she’d last talked with her, crowded Kate’s thoughts with all the feelings from joy to sorrow she’d experienced on that mission trip. They’d just finished painting the new church/school building for the village. They sat outside under a cluster of palm trees, relishing the slight breeze, drinking water from the new system, and giggling about a boy Maria liked. She’d teased her new friend about having a crush on Pedro. Maria’s cheeks had reddened, and she’d averted her gaze. Maria had been fourteen and innocent. That all changed that evening when the large man with a scar on his left cheek came to the village, recruiting girls for his business.
The frightened look in Maria’s eyes as she was dragged away by the man would stay with Kate always. She’d come to see if Maria could come out and talk. Kate had loved to practice her Spanish with her friend. She never even got to ask. Instead, she hid in the bushes watching the scene in disbelief, at first not sure what was happening. Quickly that changed, but Kate was too late to stop the man.
Susan appeared in the open doorway of Kate’s office. “I gather by your expression that your conversation with your mother wasn’t a good one.”
“No.” Kate pushed herself forward in her chair. “Come in and shut the door.”
“This doesn’t bode well.” Susan took a seat in front of the desk. “What’s going on?”
Susan had been with her from the beginning and had the same passion for Kate’s cause. She lived in another apartment on the third floor. Surely, she wasn’t a spy for her mother. In fact, she couldn’t see it being anyone at Beacon of Hope, which meant her mother had found out about Cynthia from someone at the hospital or the police. “I need to tell someone, but I don’t want this to go any further than this office. I don’t want others to worry, especially the girls.”
Her friend frowned. “This doesn’t sound good. Is it about Rose?”
Kate shook her head. “Mom’s shutting down the program. I have enough to keep it open for a few weeks, but that’s all.”
“I’ve got some money saved. Maybe it will help.”
Kate tried to smile but the effort took too much energy. “Thanks, but besides looking for Rose, I’ll now have to find some funding to keep this place open until I turn thirty. That’s when I get my trust fund, no strings attached.”
“That’s over two years away. How are you going to come up with that kind of money to keep the program open?”
“I’m my mother’s daughter. She’s a master at fundraising. With the Lord’s help and what I’ve learned from her, I’ll get the money.” I have to.
“If anyone can, it’ll be you. I came to tell you the girls have gone to their rooms. They’re much quieter than usual, but that’s to be expected.”
“I’ll go up and talk to them. Pay each one a visit.”
“That’s good. They need to see you.” Susan rose at the same time Kate did. When she came around from behind her desk, her friend gave her a hug. “You aren’t alone. I’ll help any way I can.”
“Thanks. I needed to hear that.” Then Kate remembered Wyatt sitting in the waiting room today when he should have been with his daughter. Suddenly she didn’t feel as alone as she had been.
Wyatt parked his truck in front of his house, glad to be home after a very long day. He glanced at Maddie’s bedroom window. It was dark. He thought she might still be up so he could hear about her competition. At least tomorrow, they could share their usual early Friday morning ride before he had to go out. Then he could find out how she did and try to make up missing the rodeo to her.
When Wyatt let himself into his house, he noticed the light on in the kitchen and went in search of who was up at midnight. He entered the room. Sitting at the table in the breakfast nook, his mother peered up at him.
She lifted a mug and took a sip. “It’s about time you got home. Do you want some tea? I can fix you some.”
Wyatt winced. “Some of your herbal—uh, tea?”
“Yes. Green tea is good for you. You should try some.”
She so rarely imparted “motherly” advice that he had to clamp his jaws together to keep from chuckling at the time she picked. “I’ll pass.” He stepped back a pace. “Well, I’d better go to bed. I have a full day tomorrow.”
“Don’t you want to know how the rodeo went?”
The determination on his mother’s face put him on high alert. “I thought I’d ask Maddie tomorrow morning.”
“She isn’t here.”
After dealing with this case concerning child prostitution, the news that his daughter was somewhere he didn’t know pricked his wariness. He drew himself up straight. “Where is she?”
“At Kelly’s spending the night.”
&n
bsp; “We usually ride Friday morning.”
His mom set her mug on the table. “I know how much you look forward to those rides, but she was so disappointed you weren’t there tonight that when Kelly asked I said yes. Sit, son. Maybe we should talk.”
“About what?” He hung back by the doorway, too tired to have this conversation, especially if she was going to tell him what a bad parent he had been tonight. He already felt that way.
“Maddie wants to get a tattoo.”
His mouth dropped open. “There’s nothing to talk about. It isn’t going to happen. It’s against the law to get one in Texas. I know there are places she could go that ignore the law, but I won’t let her. Period.”
“It wouldn’t be too big. I have one.”
“You’re not my fourteen-year-old daughter. What she does when she turns eighteen is her business, but not as long as she’s under my roof.”
“I told her I would talk to you and try to get you to see her side. It isn’t a regular tattoo but a henna one.”
Wyatt strode to the table but remained standing across from his mother. “In this case, her side doesn’t matter. I don’t care what kind.”
“All her friends are getting one. She doesn’t want to be left out.”
“Are they?”
“That’s what she said.”
He gripped the back of the chair in front of him and leaned into it. “So if all her friends were going swimming in shark-infested waters, it would be okay for her to jump in too.”
“Shark-infested waters? Where did that come from?”
He wasn’t even sure himself, but suddenly he felt as though he were swimming around in shark-infested waters and desperate to keep his family on the shore. He shrugged. “I’ll talk to her. I’ll make her understand.”
Saving Hope: Men of the Texas Rangers Book 1 Page 7