Chapter Fourteen
In all the chaos, I’d forgotten that Carrie was alive.
The blue-haired woman had definitely appeared disturbed.
Garrick finally released Hastings. “Spell it out, Hastings. I don’t have time for this.”
I’d never seen him so worked up before. In front of me, Joe remained a barrier between me and the rest of the room.
Again Ricardo nodded to Hastings, allowing him to share the information. “Tell him everything.”
My eyes connected with Evelyn’s. As if trying to ease the stress of the situation, she gave me a gentle smile. “Yes, tell them everything,” Evelyn said.
Straightening his shirt, Hastings began, “Carrie had been a maid at our house for about six months after she left Barb and Wyatt’s. She quit three months before Knoah was born. Mom and Dad got word she’d committed suicide from the investigation they did not long after she left. So when Knoah was kidnapped, she wasn’t a suspect.”
And we had been the ones to provide the Monroes with the link to Carrie when I disclosed my parents’ real names.
“Why was she there today?” Little by little, Garrick was regaining control. His face wasn’t quite so tight, and the veins in his neck seemed to have contracted back to normal.
“I don’t know. She works at a strip club across town. She was supposed to have a tail. I don’t know what happened. There was a car waiting for her outside the restaurant. She barely evaded the security men.”
Garrick paced a few times. “Is she connected to Navarro?”
“I think so, yes. No meetings have happened yet. But I suspect the mole told Navarro, and somehow he got the information to Carrie.”
“And why would he do that?”
Hastings swore as realization dawned. “He wanted me distracted…away from you to take Knoah. He knew I would go after Carrie if I got that close to her. Motherfucker! I played right into his hands.”
Subconsciously, I looked down at my own hands. Blood. There was blood splatter on my hands. And on my shirt. It was everywhere. I touched my face and felt something on my skin. The man’s blood. I had the man’s blood on me. I began to feel sick. A complete stranger had died in front of me. My hands were frozen in front of my face. They were shaking—just like the rest of my body. “Th-there’s blood! There’s blood!”
Garrick rushed to me. “Are you hurt?”
Quickly his arms searched me as Ricardo called for medical supplies and came to my side. “Knoah, where are you bleeding?”
Taking deep breaths, I fought to stay in the present. I would not faint. Death always brought back Dylan’s accident. And my mind closed itself off.
“It’s not my blood. Someone died. He died. I have his blood on me.” I sounded hysterical. “Garrick, someone died. He died!”
Picking me up, Garrick asked, “Where’s a bathroom? I need clean clothes for Knoah.”
A chill came over me, and I began to shake even more. I had nearly died. Garrick had nearly died. Hastings had shot someone. Killed him. I closed my eyes and focused on Garrick’s heartbeat.
“This way.” Ricardo directed Garrick down the hall. “Let us know if you need anything.”
“Joe, guard the door. No one comes near it.” I noticed he hadn’t said a word to Ricardo. He was still angry.
“Understood.”
Inside the bathroom, Garrick sat me down and turned on the shower. “Strip down, sweetheart. We’ll get you cleaned.”
“Someone died today.”
“Yes, he did. He was going to take you.”
My entire body shuddered. The water turned hot, and steam seeped out from behind the curtain. I stepped into the shower. Some of the blood had dried and was stuck. It had to come off. I needed it off now. I dug my fingernails into my skin to get it off.
Garrick touched my hand to stop me. “Knoah, let me.”
He gently washed me with the foamy soap in the shower. The flowery scent filled the humid air in the bathroom. As the blood was rinsed down the drain, I felt marginally better.
Garrick climbed in the shower with me, and I noticed he had some blood on him, as well.
“Your clothes,” I said.
“Let me wash your hair.”
I closed my eyes as he lathered up my hair and massaged my scalp. “Garrick, someone died.” I was repeating myself, but it was still so unbelievable.
“Knoah, it was either him or you.”
And I knew this. I turned and threw my arms around him. The tears flowed freely. “I don’t want to be part of that world.”
With me in his arms, Garrick sank to the floor and let the warm water rain over us. “This was Navarro. Not the Monroes.”
So Garrick believed Hastings. “What about the body? The police?”
“There isn’t one.” I looked up, confused. “One of Navarro’s cars stopped to get the body. Joe is having it confirmed now.”
I hated Navarro.
The water began to turn cold. Garrick reached over to turn off the faucet and then dried me off as if I was the most fragile piece of glass he’d ever held. Right now I felt it. How much can one person take before they truly crack?
I leaned against the cabinet as Garrick went to the door. “Do you have clothes for Knoah?”
Joe’s voice came from the other side of the door. “Yes, there’s a set for both of you. The Monroes are in the living room. All men have been allowed back in for the sake of pretenses. Nothing should be discussed openly.”
“Understood.”
The clothes were comfy and warm. Garrick changed into a new pair of slacks and a shirt. They must be Hastings’. I wondered if these clothes were Evelyn’s. They seemed too relaxed to be hers.
“You ready to go back out there?” Garrick pushed my wet hair behind my shoulder.
“I want to go home.”
“As soon as we can, we will.” He cradled my face. “You are the most precious thing in the world to me. I love you, Knoah.”
I leaned my head against his chest. “I love you, too.” A few beats passed. “When does it stop? The madness, I mean.”
“Hopefully soon, sweetheart.” He held me tighter. “I’m going to give you the happily ever after you deserve.”
“I want that more than anything with you.”
“And you’ll have it.”
Hopefully everything would turn out okay.
“Are you ready to go out there?”
“Yes.”
Leaving the bathroom, we walked down the hall to the living room. It was spacious and warm. It felt cozy. I had imagined something cold and distant.
Everyone stood when we walked in, concern on their faces. Ricardo asked, “How are you?”
“Better.”
Hastings spoke next. He seemed worried as his intense eyes bored into mine. “I made a mistake not disclosing everything to Garrick. I won’t make that mistake again.”
Garrick had been right. They’d kept stuff to themselves. Evelyn worried her lip. I went to her side to comfort her. A lot had been said earlier. “Are you okay?”
“Yes, my precious Knoah. I’m just worried about you. How does some hot chocolate sound?”
Hastings chimed in, “Mom makes the best hot chocolate. She made it every time I had a rough day at school.”
When I was a child, Mom always made me cinnamon rolls on rough days. Maybe our mothers were similar in many ways. It helped me feel connected to them.
Wanting to give her that memory, I said, “That sounds good.”
“Good.”
Evelyn retreated to the kitchen, and the room grew quiet.
To fill the silence, I commented, “You have a lovely home.”
Ricardo said, “Thank you. We’ve talked about moving several times, but we wanted to stay here with the memories.”
Looking around, I noticed there were family pictures on display everywhere. Garrick, Hastings, and Ricardo were content to let me look at everything without filling the silence with discussion.
A bit later, Evelyn walked in and handed me a coffee mug. I took a sip. The rich chocolate caressed my tongue. “Wow. This is amazing. I would love the recipe.”
“Absolutely.”
The awkwardness of the situation crept in. And I wanted to avoid discussing it further. “Was this the house I was born in?” I blurted out.
“It was. Would you like to see your room?”
“Yes.”
Why haven’t they changed it all this time? I was a little leery to see the room meant for me as a child. But curiosity got the better of me. I wanted to see it.
We walked down the hallway and came to the door. Inside, the room was done in a pale pink. I froze. This was the room in my dream. Exactly. The teddy bear on the diaper table still laid there. I had seen this room so many times. I walked up to the rocking chair.
“This is the room from my dream.” As I stood there, the feeling I always had in the dream began to ease in. I pushed it away. This place had been filled with love. I refused to let the dream mar that. “This is where I was taken.”
“Yes. We’ve talked about having it redone, but none of us wanted to lose the memory of you.”
I touched the rocking chair. There were few pictures of me as an infant on the nightstand. I sensed they truly loved me, and my heart opened up further to them.
Joe stepped into the doorway. “It’s time to head back.”