The woman’s voice yelled, “Kneel.”
He got on his knees and gazed in Sam’s direction.
Sam shook his head and swore under his breath. “I was told we’re making a trade, so let’s make a trade.”
“Back up. I’m not going to jail. Can you promise me that won’t happen?” she asked.
Sam stepped toward her slowly. “You don’t have to do this. Think about what you’re doing. You’re Maggie, right? The Rushners’ neighbor?”
“So?”
“Adaline just mentioned to me how lovely you are, and what great friends she thought you could become, after all this is sorted out, of course.”
“She said that?” Maggie asked.
“You saved her from the media frenzy when she was trapped outside her house,” Sam said. “You don’t want to hurt anyone. Put the gun down.”
Taking a deep breath, Cache thought about memories of his girls as Sam tried to get the women to take the cold barrel off his neck.
“That’s it. Let him go,” Sam said, signaling Cache to make a move.
Cache elbowed Maggie in the knee, and Sam leaped toward her, trying to grab the gun from her hands. Leaning over Maggie, Sam held his palm on her wrist and clenched it tight.
“Put it down,” he shouted. “Now.”
“You’re not making a deal with me, are you?” she asked.
Cache saw him try to release her fingers from the trigger, as his eyes blazed with no reason to keep his promise. He moved toward Sam, and Maggie growled.
“Where is she? Tell me right now,” Sam said.
“No,” she said.
“Move back, Cache.” Sam grasped Maggie’s wrist tighter and she yelped. “Do you know what you’ve put people through?”
She attempted to lift her body off the dirt road. “I didn’t know this was going to happen. I wanted the money. He told me the money would be delivered once I did the last job.”
“Stalk?” Cache asked.
“Yes. Are you going to let me go?” Maggie asked, pleading.
“Give me the gun,” Sam said.
“Not until you let me go.”
Sam glared at her. “That’s not how it works, lady.”
Maggie kicked at Sam’s legs, but he continued to hold her down. A shot fired, and Cache choked in a heavy breath. Sam’s eyes widened. He placed his left hand on his chest before he collapsed on the ground. Blood dripped on the woman’s shirt and she dropped the gun, frozen in place. Her hands shook, and Cache grabbed the gun, smacking her in the face, sending her to unconsciousness.
Cache bent down and grasped Sam’s arm. “Stick with me.” He pulled out his phone to call for help.
Sam held his arm up to stop him. “You need to listen to me before it’s too late.” He breathed in heavily and gasped for air. The shot in his chest seeped blood through his shirt. “Give this to Abbott. He needs to know this used to be Adaline’s. He might understand.” Sam laid an owl necklace into Cache’s hands.
Cache nodded and placed the necklace in his pocket. “I need to take a look at that.” He pulled up Sam’s shirt and saw the wound, next to his heart. He rolled up his shirt sleeves.
“There’s no time.” Sam put a piece of paper in his hands. “I can’t protect her anymore. That’s your role now.” He coughed, and blood squirted from his wound. “Tell her I always loved her. Save the girl.”
“Hold on. You’re coming with me,” Cache said.
Sam shut his eyes and no longer gasped for breath. His body went limp.
“Man, come on. Keep it together.” There was no movement. He felt for a pulse only to feel stillness.
His body shook. He unclenched his bloody hand, staring at a crumpled piece of paper with an address printed across it. Cache clung to the base of his neck and stared at Sam, saying goodbye for himself, but mostly for his wife.
Goodbye.
Thank you.
Sixty-Three
Adaline Rushner
Lost Treasures
3:00 p.m.
Coming back into Salt Lake, fear gripped her already tense body. She had to get to her store and figure out the connection she felt to being locked in the closet on her first day of work. Heading toward Ivy Lane, a flash of red and blue followed behind her.
Adaline’s heart leaped onto the passenger side, leaving her gasping for breath.
Shit.
After running from Sam, the only quick option she had for getting to Salt Lake City was to steal a helpless old lady’s car. Her gut clenched, thinking about the stranded woman and that she was the one to put her in that situation. Adaline gazed back and forth between the side mirror and the rearview mirror.
Don’t take me away. I still need to get my girls.
The cop car revved to the side of her and passed on the left. She pulled to the side of the road to get her bearings. Opening her eyes, Adaline peered down Main Street where multiple police vehicles planted themselves in front of Dr. Lynchester’s office. She gulped, and a whimper escaped her lips. Covering her mouth, Adaline kicked the air and screamed. Clinging to her shoulders, she rubbed out the shivers that sprung through her body. Forcing herself to take a breath, Adaline grasped her cracked phone that the old lady had smacked from her hand.
Cache.
She wanted to apologize and hear his voice.
It was her turn to make it all right, for everyone. Adaline got out of the car and glanced at the two cop cars on the side of her shop.
Probably helping with Dr. Lynchester’s crime scene.
She made her way to the front door, head down. Moving inside, the store felt good—warm, like an old friend catching up with her. The place was clean and organized, all the shelves stocked, and the objects placed with care. Spotless. Sanitizer bottles sat on the counter.
“Seth, are you here?”
Stillness welcomed her, and she hurried to the closet. Adaline hesitated, staring at the door that mocked her to come and play. Her hands shook as she walked slowly toward it and reached to grasp the handle. Turning the knob, Adaline jumped backward in fear that someone was already there waiting for her. She held her chest, taking a few steps forward, and tried to steady her breathing. Stepping inside, Adaline shut the door. Memories flashed back from her childhood.
You’re no good.
You deserve to live in a dark hole by yourself with no one to love you.
You’re a disappointment.
I never loved you.
I regret being your mother.
The voices in her head got louder, yelling, and she clung to her hair, pulling tightly on her scalp.
Stop it. Get out of my head. I am good. I regret that I let you take so much from me. She took a breath. Not anymore.
Adaline stood and let her eyes adjust to the darkness in the closet. No longer would she allow the destruction of her past to own her. She smiled as weight lifted off her shoulders, and a new release and realization awoke within her.
The door handle jolted and she glanced down at it. “I’m not afraid of you.”
“Adaline? It’s just me,” Seth said. “It seems the door is jammed. Just a minute.”
She heard rustling and the sound of boots clomping coming from the other side of the door, and for the first time, she didn’t want to be rescued from the dark. Adaline found comfort in being one with it.
Light shone through the crack as the door opened, and Seth stared at her with excitement. Adaline examined his face, almost intrigued by his reaction. It felt like she was seeing him for the first time in a different light. The gray in his hair and the wrinkles on the side of his face were unfamiliar, but she knew his eyes. She knew them well.
Adaline gasped.
She didn’t move and she couldn’t speak. Even her thoughts were a tangled mess.
Owl Keeper.
Seth was the Owl Keeper.
He pulled back his hair behind his right ear, touched his mark, and smiled at her, the same smile she saw as a kid—kind and warm.
“My
Little Owl. You remember me, don’t you?” he asked, hope in his voice.
She nodded and tried to think of the right words to say, but nothing came.
“I’m glad you recognize me now.” He reached his gloved hand to her. He had saved her by taking the fall and being locked away. How was he out already? Not that it mattered, especially since it had never been his doing to begin with.
“I’m so sorry that I forgot you,” she said. “I forgot a lot of things, but I remember everything now. You took the fall for the fire.” Adaline took his hand and stepped out of the closet. She embraced him. He kept his arms open in a way that made her think he was unhappy with her. But after a minute, he closed his arms around her and placed his head on hers. “Thank you.”
“You’re welcome,” he said softly, almost in a whisper.
“Why did you do that for me?”
“I care for my girls, and always have.” He let go and moved a few steps away from her. “I never had anyone be there for me. You deserved more, and truthfully, you reminded me so much of my little sister. I wanted you to have a better life, Adaline.” He stared down at the ground. “But . . . you forgot me. I’ve tried to help you, help them, and you never really saw it.” He bunched his fist and scrunched his nose. “You’re all ungrateful.”
Stepping toward him, Adaline pressed her hand on his arm. He pulled his arm away from her, and the excitement she saw earlier became bitterness and anger.
“I didn’t mean to.” She paused. “My mind tried to forget the bad memories that I went through when I was younger.”
He fidgeted and laughed. “I’m a bad memory from your past?”
Adaline covered her mouth, realizing how the words came out, but she couldn’t take back what she said. “Of course not. The first memories that came back to me were the ones from being with you. I remember the swing, and the white daisies where I lay in the dirt with the flowers, and . . . Speckles the bear. Look, I still have the necklace you gave me,” she said, pointing to the locket around her neck. “You brought me back.”
He hesitated. “I hoped you’d remember with the locket. With all the lockets.”
He didn’t trust her, or did he?
“I’m still the same person you’ve always known.” She extended her hand again and sang to him. There was a little owl
High in a tree
She tried to fly away
And couldn’t get free
Until one day, he made her see
That she could be anything she wanted to be.
His face softened, and he hummed to the tune while she sang.
Adaline stood in front of him. “You left the lockets for me to find?”
He peered at her, grinning like a small child, and nodded his head.
“Do you know where my girls are?” She squeezed his hand and tried to hold her ground. “Where are they?”
Seth gazed at her and put his finger to his lips. “I knew you weren’t crazy when everyone thought you were. It was me who saved you. Saved them.”
“Tell me what happened?” She tried to keep her voice low and calm while blood pumped through her veins.
Muffled voices echoed in the back room like wind carrying unclear sound. Adaline paused and listened for the noise again. “Seth?”
“They were going to ruin everything,” he said.
She raised her eyebrows at him and moved quickly to the back room where two officers sat tied up to the chairs. Both had blood on their face and hands. “What the hell is this?” Adaline raced to the front of the store and grabbed a box cutter to cut the zip ties from their wrists.
He tapped his foot and licked his lips. “Let’s play a game. If you let them go, you’ll never find your girls. We don’t have much time.”
“Seth,” she yelled.
He stopped tapping his foot and clenched his thin jaw. “You don’t want to play a game with me?”
Adaline clung to the box cutter and placed it in her pocket. The tension in her arms wanted to choke the answers from him. She stared at the officers, then at Seth. “Please, help me get my girls. You saved them, right?” She glanced into his eyes that still held distaste. “How about you tell me where they are, and—”
“And you’ll follow me like you used to.” Seth clapped his hands. “That will be our game, and you’ll find out everything soon.” He left an item on the counter, grabbed the sanitizer bottle, and walked through the store toward the front door.
Adaline gripped her keys and moved to see the item he had placed on the counter.
A red glove.
She hurried to close her shop. Seth had already left and was waiting by her car. He liked games and a good chase. She didn’t know if he actually saved her girls, or if he even knew where they were, but she wanted to be there to see for herself.
Could there be a possibility that this nightmare would end, or was this all a game to him? An illusion to suck her back into a friendship they once had.
She crossed the street and unlocked the car. Seth got in, and Adaline closed her eyes.
My girls.
Please let my heart be right.
Starting her car, she reversed out of the parking lot, ready to discover if Seth had them or if they were somewhere else entirely.
Sixty-Four
Adaline Rushner
Friday, November 12th
3:30 p.m.
They’d been driving for fifteen minutes while she allowed herself to be directed on where to go with the address Seth had given her. Each turn brought a new sense of direction and closeness to revealing the truth, even with the road feeling like a maze of no return.
“Is your real name, Seth? Or what would you like me to call you?” she asked.
He stopped putting sanitizer on his hands and peered at her. “Thank you for asking. Seth is what I go by. Call me that,” he said. “Owl Keeper was a name I was given by others, not one I care to have.”
“Seth is nice.” Adaline shifted in her seat. “Why didn’t you tell me you had my girls?”
He scratched the side of his face with intensity and rubbed more sanitizer on his hands.
He’s nervous. Why?
“Have you been to where we’re going before?”
“Nope, but you’ll be reunited with your girls soon. Maggie took really good care of them for you. I even told her to take a bite of the sandwich, like you do.”
Adaline’s body shook. “I was right the whole time. Why are you working with that monster?”
“She’s a good person. Good, good person,” he said. “I’m not working for her.”
“Who’s reuniting me with my girls, Seth?”
He grinned and pulled at strands of his hair. “It’s part of the surprise. Your girls were in trouble, but now they’re safe and can come out to play.”
“Your destination is in one mile on the right,” her phone commanded.
Seth put the sanitizer on the floor. He smiled and waved his hands with excitement. “All my little owls will be together. I love reunions, don’t you?”
He’s different now.
Changed.
She nodded.
Driving up the dirt road, rows of trees arched their limbs over her car like a cave of branches wrapping them into hibernation. She gazed at the home in front of her and stopped the car.
Adaline’s face turned red and her throat burned.
The exact replica of her family manor in Owling teased her here in Salt Lake. The home where she was unlovable, unwanted.
Seth gaped wide-eyed at it and gasped. “No.” He hit his head multiple times.
This place held nightmares for them both.
“Did you know?” Adaline asked.
He shook his head in disbelief. Seth held his knees and chanted a mantra out loud to himself as he moved in a circular motion. “I don’t…I don’t know why she brought your girls here, but there must be a reason for it.”
“Who?”
A large gate opened, welcoming them into their past. Adaline
entered and squinted, trying to see the woman coming into view.
No. It can’t be.
Her chest tightened, and betrayal hit her once again as her aunt’s smug face revealed itself through the tinted glass. The woman who had sent her to the psych ward stared at her. “You’re working with her?”
“You lost it after you attempted to kill your parents. She just wants to help you.”
“The story she told you is not what really happened,” Adaline said. “She wanted my inheritance and tried to get rid of me. My girls aren’t safe here.”
Seth’s head twitched. “No. She got me out of where I was trapped to save your girls, and you weren’t well.”
“You weren’t in jail?” she asked.
He shook his head. “Someone hid me away. I don’t know where, but your aunt got me out to save your girls.”
Adaline’s hand shook. “Who hid you away? Who were they in danger from?”
He hit his head. “I don’t know. You’re trying to confuse me.”
Adaline glanced at him. “It’s okay. You did well watching over us. Thank you.” She gripped his shoulder lightly for a minute.
Get out of the car. Your girls need you. Be one with your fear.
She took a deep breath and let her body feel the freedom in her words.
Be one with your fear.
Adaline let go of Seth’s shoulder and exited the car to come face to face with her aunt. “You.” She spat at her feet.
“You still have the same disruptive behavior as before. No wonder your momma never wanted you,” Arlene said.
Adaline bunched her fist together, breathing heavily. “Give me my girls, now.”
Her aunt laughed and gazed off in the distance. Wrinkles creased around her eyes and mouth, and the platinum blonde wig she wore made her look older since the last time Adaline had seen her. Someone grabbed Adaline’s hands from behind her back and tied them with a thin wire.
“Let me go.”
Seth got out of the car and glared at them. “Stop. You told me she wouldn’t get hurt.”
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