10
The trip had been exhausting. Her Lord was keeping her awake all night now, telling her what she needed to do, who had to be removed from the earth so that it would be a peaceful place, and that he was sometimes proud of her and other times disappointed. That was what had her out here now, trying to find the man that the Lord felt had slighted them. Alex had been upset as well, but had thought it not worth her having to leave her van to find him. But her Lord had been very upset when she’d dared question him about it.
You will do as you’re told. Alex had dropped to the floor, her head pounding with the anger of her Lord. He took your parking place when I wanted you to be closer to the door. There was no cause for that. You are a woman of worth, and he should have known that.
So she got herself ready and moved out of the van. It was beginning to smell, she knew that, and so was she. But while there was money for her to take a nice hotel, the Lord had told her that people would not understand.
“Understand what?” He’d warned her about questioning him, but she felt that this time it was more of a learning thing than her wondering what she was doing. “I am only following your direction. The one that rules all.”
People are not like you, my child. You are a gift to them, and I fear that they’ll harm you. She had seen her picture in the paper; the news talked nonstop about how she’d murdered innocent people. You know as well as I that had you not stepped in and taken my tasks to heart, those women would still be alive and causing harm.
She now stood near the parking spot that the man had taken from her, while her Lord told her what she must to do him to make him realize that he’d failed the Lord. Alex hid in the shadows for nearly an hour until a car—not the one that the man had been in first, but another car—pulled into the space.
I wish for you to take him from this world by stabbing him. While you are doing my tasks, I wish for you to tell him what he has done and why you are helping him to the center of my heart. Alex paused in her step, wondering why she’d been told to bring the gun this time and not a knife. You will need to be better prepared, my child. Next time, you will need to be ready to do my calling.
“Yes, my Lord, I’m sorry.” The man turned to look at her and she stared at him before moving. “This isn’t the same guy, I don’t think.”
Kill him.
She leapt forward at the sound of the angry voice in her head. The gun went off three times, each of them making the man stagger back as the bullets entered his chest. When he fell back against the seat, Alex moved closer, thinking to just end him now before anyone tried to tell her she was wrong, when she felt the bullet enter her leg and throw her back.
“Police.” The badge was shoved in her face, and she barely had time to read it before the man she’d shot was screaming words at her. He told her to drop her gun. She felt it being knocked away from her, and had no way of reaching for it again. The pain was incredible. “Alexandra Grace, you’re under arrest for the murder....”
The man continued to speak, his words blurred from the pain, his face seeming to change to different people, people that she didn’t know. When someone said her name, she opened her eyes and looked at them. She was unable to focus well, but heard the person ask her if she had any more weapons.
“My Lord said that I was to be fully armed next time.” The person said something about her Lord and Alex continued. “He is a good and kind being. I have become his instrument of justice. It is my duty to rid the world of whores and their servants.”
“Yeah, I just bet you have.” There was a tone. And she might have said something to the person, but she felt a pinch at her arm and then things got fuzzier…her hearing was going too. “We’re taking her to County General. Someone will need to ride along with us so that there is a witness that we did right by this piece of shit.”
The voice of her Lord told her to get up, to show the person that she was doing his work, and that she had more work to do. But her arms were heavy, her legs wouldn’t move. As she felt herself being moved, she spoke to her Lord. It was dizzying being lifted then set down hard.
Alex tried to call for her Lord before they took her away. “I need your help, my Lord. Please, I have work to do for you yet. You said that you needed me and would keep me safe. My lord?” He was quiet, for the first time in days. “Lord? Where are you?”
The Lord had left her. She had failed him again by not killing the man he’d told her to, and now her Lord was gone. Calling out to him once more, she heard the man next to her tell her to shut up. Had she been able to, Alex might have gladly murdered him. But she didn’t. Murder was a sin.
~~~
Zach moved through the halls of the hospital, trying his best to keep up with Tisha. Her dad was already there, and with him, Burt. They did not look happy. Not that he blamed them overly much…this was huge.
“She’s still in surgery, and will be for another hour.” Tisha took his hand in hers as her dad continued. “They said that she tried to murder an off-duty officer that had just pulled in to pick up a few things for his wife. Lucky for him, he’d been wearing his vest.”
“Has she said why him? I mean, wasn’t she out to kill the teachers?” Randall said he had no idea as yet, they’d only just arrived as well. Zach thanked him before telling him what he knew. “My family is looking into some things as well. Emma has a direct line to what’s going on, and will let us know when she gets here.”
“Good. Also, before I forget, I’ve called in some help with the house.” Zach started to tell him no, but Tisha squeezed his hand and he didn’t speak. “What with my new grandson coming home soon, I thought it would be nice if you didn’t have to worry about the house and him. Besides, call it a wedding present if you want. I’m to understand there is a wedding in the works.”
“We were headed downtown to get everything in order for next week. I was going to let you know when we had that worked out.” Randall nodded and smiled. “You don’t have to do that for the house, Randall. I’m sure that we could have gotten it done.”
“I’ve no doubt that you would have. But like I said, my grandson is coming home soon.” They’d yet to tell anyone about Loren. But he and Tisha were sure that after the initial visit, the family would love her as much as they did.
She was a little on the defensive side. Loren was the ten-year-old that the doctor had told Tisha about. She was jaded, to the point where she was indifferent to anything and anyone. Or so she had wanted them to think. After two days of going back and forth with her case worker, Zach had called in help. Within an hour after him talking to Landon, the paperwork to see her was finished.
The first visit hadn’t gone well. “So you’re doing this ‘cause someone fucking told you to.” Loren had a mouth on her that made him slightly uncomfortable. “You don’t have to do shit. I know that in a few days, some jack wad is gonna come and get me and take me back to this here fucking place.”
“That’s enough.” He’d been about to tell Tisha that now was not the time to correct the child, but she snapped her fingers and told her to sit up in her chair, which surprisingly, Loren did. “Now, you’re going to stop trying for shock value, young lady. I, for one, don’t find it to be amusing or very nice. We’ve been trying to talk to you for the last ten minutes, and all you’ve done is sit there being rude and obnoxious. Either straighten yourself up, or this is not going to go well for you.”
“You can’t talk to me that way. I know my rights.” Tisha only crossed her arms over her chest and stared her down. “You’re not nice. Other people, they let me do what I want ‘cause they know they’re only getting paid to keep me. Well, I showed them, didn’t I?”
“I’m sure you did. And now look where you are. Ten-years-old and considered unadoptable. That must make you feel like a million bucks.” The girl said nothing, but Zach could tell what she was thinking…she was afraid. “And as for money to keep you, I don’t need it, nor will I take it. If you come to live with us, the money that the state hands over to us will be put into an account for you to use when you’ve decided on a college. Zach and I have more than enough money to make you comfortable.”
“You’d just give me that money? What do you want, sex? I don’t like it.” Zach reached into her head and found that she’d been sexually abused in two different homes since she’d been put in the system. Two places that he was going to take care of as soon as he got home. “And I don’t need you telling me what to do. I got it just fine right here.”
“Do you? What if I told you that coming to live with us, you’d have your own room, your own things, as well as an education? You’d have uncles and aunts, cousins, as well as grandparents.” Loren looked at him and he smiled at her. Tisha continued as she sat down in the chair across from the young girl. “We have room enough for you in our home. And our hearts, if you allow us.”
“They all said the same shit.” Tisha only cocked a brow at her, and Loren squirmed and said she was sorry. “Look, if you don’t mind, I’d just as soon stay here. I’m betting you’d have all kinds of sh...crap that you’d be making me do to have things. I’m not into child labor either.”
“Suit yourself.” When Tisha stood, so did he. But Tisha paused and took out a sheet of paper and wrote their names and phone numbers on it. “If you change your mind, you can call us and we’ll come and talk to you. A lot of people don’t think you’re worth the time to try and save. But I think you’re more than worth it.”
That had been on Monday. As the days dragged by, they were able to get information on the couples that had abused the little girl. After Palmer and Landon found out, it was all that they could do to keep them from going to their homes themselves and taking their anger out on the four of them. As it was, they were not only in jail, but there had been several more children coming forward to talk about the abuse they’d suffered as well.
Then just this morning, he’d gotten a call from Loren. She needed him. “Can you come here? I mean, can you bring me some money? I need.... I’d like for you to come here and talk to me.”
“What is it you need, Loren? I can get most anything you want, but I don’t know what that is unless you tell me.” He could feel her anger, not at him but at someone else. He waited to dive into her head deeper, to find the real reason she was calling, because he wanted her to tell him. “Tisha and I will have a new baby in the house we’re looking forward to showing off to you. You’ll be a big sister when you get here…if you want to come, that is.”
“I don’t know anything about babies. What will I have to do with it?” Zach told her she’d only have to love him and to be his sister. “Love it? No one loves me, so how the hell do you expect me to love it? And I know nothing about being a sister. I don’t have anyone. Never did. My mom left me at the hospital when they wouldn’t let her sell me off for some drugs.”
He knew this. It had been in her file. What he didn’t know was how she’d found out, and he knew that he would discover the truth. No one should have told her that sort of information. He told her that he would never do that.
“Why not? I’m not nice. I’m not even very good, either.” He said nothing, sensing a trap. “Just this morning I took all the cereal in the place and trashed it. Wanna know why?”
He looked. For some reason, and it turned out he was right, he didn’t think she’d make other children suffer for no reason. Beneath it all, Zach thought she was a good girl.
“Because it had bugs in it and you didn’t want them to serve it up to the other children in the home.” She was quiet then. “I think that’s one of the best things I’ve heard all day, Loren. Thank you for thinking of the others.”
“They’re kicking me out.” He knew that as well. It was front and center in her mind. And that Loren was terrified. “What will I do if you don’t take me? Where will I go?”
“We’re coming now. All right? You just sit tight and we’ll be there in twenty minutes.” She cried then, and it broke his heart. “I’m coming for you, sweetheart. I’m coming now, and Tisha will be there soon too.”
He had just left the tractor in the field, having only come in the house for a few more bottles of water, and caught the call. As he stood there, trying to figure out what to do, Mason came in with the news of Alex being caught. He told Mason what was going on.
“Go to your daughter, Zach. I’ll take care of things here.” He nodded, still not sure what he was supposed to do. “Go. I swear to you, things will be just fine. She needs you now, not when you’ve tried to get things done here first.”
He’d gone to see her. As she sat across from him, her anger back in place, he started to ask her what had happened when she glanced at the woman that was in the room with them. He had a feeling that she was the cause of a great deal of the child’s problems. Zach turned to the warden, a name that Tisha had given her that first day, and asked to be alone with the child.
“No.” No other explanation, just a simple no. Standing up, she put her hand on her hip, as if she were looking for a weapon. “She’s a bad one and will tell you anything. Lies, that’s all she knows is lies.”
“Be that as it may, I want you to get out of here, now.” The compulsion hurt her, he knew it. Zach hadn’t ever had an occasion to use it on anyone before, and was glad when she turned and left them. He sat back down and had to let out several long breaths before he felt like he could speak in a reasonable tone. “She’s not going to bother you again.”
“I didn’t lie about the cereal. I can’t show you it now, but I didn’t lie.” He said he believed her. “You do, too. How come? You got no reason to want me. That other woman, Tisha, she said you don’t need the money. Why are you coming here like this? Making noises about taking me home with you?”
“Because as soon as my attorney is done with the paperwork, which is going to be moving along faster now, you are coming to our home, today if I can swing it. You will be a part of our family, and we’ll take care of you. If you want that.” She didn’t so much as blink at him. “You said they were kicking you out. Because of the cereal incident. I don’t believe that is all…what else happened?”
She looked away, then back at him before standing up and turning her back to him. When she lifted her shirt up, he wanted to find the warden and kill her. As soon as Loren sat back down, she began speaking in such a calm voice that it scared him.
“I can’t be here no more, Mr. Zach. If she hits me again, and she will, I will hurt her. I’m little, but I know things that can protect me. And she might kill me, but I’m going to mess her up bad before she does.” Zach reached into her mind; he didn’t rape it, but he saw much more than he’d ever thought he’d see in a child’s mind. Instead of telling her that things would be better, he’d make sure they were. Starting today.
He pulled out his phone. “Ed, this is Zach. I need for you to contact Tisha and ask her to meet me at the hospital instead of the children’s home. Loren has been beaten.” Ed said that he’d call an ambulance. “I don’t think that’s necessary. Just, she can’t stay here.”
“Need the ambulance, son. To prove you didn’t just take her out and hurt her yourself.” He could see that, and thanked him for thinking of it. “I’ll meet you at the hospital, and from there, I’ll take over. You should know that I’m with Palmer now, and he’s about to bust he’s so pissed off.”
“So am I. The woman here, she beat her for trying to save the other children from eating rotten food.” Zach felt Loren take his hand and curl hers around his much larger one. “Ed, she’s afraid and hurt. You’ll make sure that she’s safe for us, won’t you?”
“You got that right, boy. I’m leaving now.” He could just see the man wiping at his brow. “Mary just called in the troops, so you just sit tight until the police and ambulance get themselves there.”
In ten minutes he was still holding her hand and letting the police talk to her. She was examined and put in the ambulance just as Ed pulled up. Instead of getting to ride with her to the hospital, Zach let the police do it. He had to fill out the paperwork to take care that nothing happened to the little girl, his little girl, again. As soon as she was settled he told her what was going on, and that Ed would not leave her until he returned. Now they were dealing with the fallout from Alex. And hopefully this would be the end of it.
“Dad, we have something to tell you.” Zach let Tisha tell them about Loren while he went to the desk to ask after the woman. He didn’t want Alex trying to escape, nor did he want her to die. He was afraid for his family, but he wanted answers, and if she was dead, they’d never get them.
“Mr. Douglas, there’s a call for you.” He took the receiver from the nurse when he said he’d take it. “I think it’s another police officer. He said his name was Harlan.”
“Hello?”
Harlan was talking to someone else when he answered the phone. Zach just waited. Whoever was getting the dressing down from the man had really screwed up, and Harlan was making it clear that it had better never happen again. When he came on the line again, Zach laughed.
“I hate this part of my job.” Zach told him he’d not be able to do what he did either. “I called to confirm that Alex has been arrested. I heard it, but can’t get any answers from anyone. And Emma, she’s not in her office either. Can you help a man out?”
“She’s in surgery now. Alex, not Emma. Emma had something happen at her office earlier this week, and they’re dealing with that. Her office is a crime scene right now too.” He asked about the woman who had killed herself and if that was her. “Yes, it was her. She had a diary on her computer that showed the mental stress she was in after losing her child. I guess she wasn’t dealing with it very well, and getting caught was too much for her.”
“That’s just sad. People can murder and do all sorts of things that they shouldn’t be doing, and something like that happens and it brings home that at one time they were human. What can you tell me about the officer that took Alex down? By the way, I’m on my way in now. I didn’t come before because of the press. They don’t need any more than we can give them.” He told him what he knew about the cop. “Good. I’m glad to hear that it was only a couple of ribs and not him being hurt worse. The people back home, they’re still cleaning up her mess. Found a couple more...never mind. Let’s just say this is one overworked cop here that’s glad that she was found before she killed again.”
“I’m going to have someone meet you in the lobby to bring you up, all right?” He said that would be great. “The locals have the floor pretty much blocked off. The press, as you mentioned, is out in force today. Too much going on in such a small amount of time.” He told Harlan to call when he got there.
He saw his family coming toward him when he turned to see where Tisha was. Mason contacted him to tell him that he was in the emergency room with Loren. Ed had some papers to file and would return. Mason said he’d stay with Loren until she was released. Zach decided to go down and see her soon, just to make sure she was holding up well.
After checking on Tisha and making sure that she was all right, Randall told them to go and see to his granddaughter. The man looked ready to bust, he was so happy. After hugging him about half a dozen times, they made their way to the elevator. Zach realized then that he was going to be a father to two children. And he loved it.
“She’s upset with us.” He asked Tisha how she knew. “I asked the nurses to keep an eye on her for us. Mason isn’t doing as well as you’d think. The man of a large pride is having issues with one pintsized little girl.”
“He volunteered to keep an eye on her. I think he thought he could get through to her faster than we could. I’m kind of glad that he couldn’t. Calming a ten-year-old would be hard on him. Mason isn’t the most patient of men when it comes to not having things go his way. But he will have to get used to her, just like we will.” Tisha said she wanted to take her home now. “We’ll try, but Ed said they might want to keep her overnight to make sure she’s going to be all right. They don’t take child abuse very well around here.”
“Good.”
Almost the moment they entered the room, Loren started sobbing, holding their hands and thanking them. Mason slipped out of the room and Zach sat down. Tisha was climbing in the bed with Loren to hold her, and Zach felt wonderful. He had a son and a daughter now. It made all the other shit going on in his life seem a little less overwhelming.