“You went over my head to Gary?” Rick’s lips thin as he glares at me. “I thought we were going to help each other out until the detail was over. Completely over.” He doesn’t want to be on his own with his messed-up cousin. I don’t blame him, but I have a more pressing matter to look into.
“We should step into the hallway to finish this conversation,” I warn Rick. Hutton doesn’t need to know what case I’m reopening. In fact, he doesn’t need to have most of the information he’s gleaned from us while we’ve been ‘protecting’ him. “It’s confidential information.”
“You’re reopening the Lassiter disappearances,” Hutton says in a monotone voice. Rick shuts his eyes and sighs.
When Rick reopens his eyes he rolls them at me. Then proceeds to steer me from the room, as Hutton says behind us. “You’re just predictable.”
3. X/HUTTON
Achilles likes to cuddle up to my neck when I sleep in the crawl space at the parking ramp. His purring settles me. I nuzzle my face into the fur on his back. Once it’s dark enough, I’ll sneak up to her room in the clinic. Sometimes I just read to her as she sleeps. It’s as peaceful as Achille’s purring, the soft respirations and the rising of her chest. I’ve touched her cheek and rubbed my face with the same fingers. With no ill effects.
It’s been days since I last saw my father. No one has bothered to look for me for testing, either. It doesn’t fit the patterns, and even though something has changed I don’t know what that might be yet. Number one has been gone and right now that’s the only important thing to know. Without her around everyone is more relaxed… and safe.
I run my fingers over the crack in the cement where I’ve shoved paperwork. Sliding the canvas used to cover the sailboat over the space, I make sure no one will see it if they look in. Several inches down inside the crack where it bottoms out with dirt there lies a computer drive. It’s all on there… everything. If they ever figure out that I have it, they’ll kill us all...
Present Day
Matt comes back inside the room after talking to Rick, my hapless cousin. “I’m not sure how you figured out the case I’m reopening, but at this point it doesn’t matter. Since I’m not part of your detail anymore. I’m asking you as a person that cares about Eden; what do you know about her background that you’re not saying?” Oh, he thinks we’re on the same side? He has some things to learn.
“I don’t have any information for you.” I turn my back to him and go back to doing pullups. Don’t trust anyone. No one. Just Eden. “Even if I did know something, I wouldn’t tell you.”
Matt slams his hand into the chair next to him. “Don’t you understand that she’s in danger? You can help her and you’re refusing to.” Wrong. I’m protecting her. “Listen… I need you to trust me. I could tell when you met her here that it wasn’t the first time. What. Do. You. Know?” Keeping my face expressionless, I peer at him. A vein sticks out on his forehead and his jaw is set. I’m getting to him.
“I have cameras in her room.” I hop down and go to the bathroom to pull my cellphone down from the ceiling tiles. I’ve been wanting to show him since I checked on our return to the Center. As soon as I heard she was taken. I knew. They found us. They knew who she was.
“You… what?” Confused, Matt holds out his hand as he strides my way. “Never mind… let me see.” I pass the phone to him, careful not to touch him. Not because touch really bothers me anymore, but because I want to control how I’m viewed. Control the information.
He watches the video of Keir sitting on her bed as she gets up to go to the door. There isn’t footage of who is at the door. She backs up a few steps with a hint of a smile on her face. Still, no one enters the camera frame with her. Keir waves and stands up near the bed. Caleb steps into the frame from the direction of the bathroom and he’s pulled from view by someone. Then Eden’s mouth drops open, and she starts to back away. The feed ends. Someone found the camera.
“She knows the person who took her,” he states and replays it again. I don’t say anything, but he’s assuming she knows them. Some people can seem unthreatening until they show their true intentions. If they came for her, they don’t care if she can identify them, because she won’t live through it. Not this time.
I want my phone back, but I have two more hidden away. I get a feeling he won’t be relinquishing the phone back to me anyway. He pockets it in front of me. “Thank you. Now… tell me how you know her.” He’s really trying my patience now.
Ignoring his existence, I pull my t-shirt off and wipe the sweat from my forehead before dropping it and starting to do pushups. I hide my smile at the way he watches me. I’ve aggravated him enough that he’s about to lose his carefully contained anger. Once he loses it with me, I’m in control.
“I don’t know if you’re playing games or if you think you’re protecting someone, but either way your silence right now is only causing us to waste time. Do you understand that?” He tries to get eye contact with me as he squats in front of me, but I look over his head at the wall. FBI Agent Luke or Matt or whatever his name is today, thinks he can get into my head. It’s not his fault that he’s clueless. I learned by the age of six that no one is safe. The more a person tries to appear helpful, the less they are.
“Don’t waste it then.” I jump back up and sit at the edge of one of the beds in the room. “No one told you it would be a good idea to question me again, did they?” I want him to leave. The sooner he gets a move on, the sooner I can break away from Rick. Whoever has Eden didn’t leave in a vehicle, they could be in the area somewhere.
Matt tenses and assesses me with a thinly veiled rage settling under his skin. I almost like him right now. His indignation that I might be withholding information to save Eden is … commendable. “The only reason I’m here talking to you is because I know she’s alive and within five miles of the Center.” He didn’t mean to tell me that, but he covers well. “You might not think I’m decent at my job, but I do have some tools on my side.”
Sitting up a little straighter, I force myself to act disinterested. How does he know that? “Oh? Are you making guesses now?”
Matt smirks at me. “I had access to a prototype of a tracking device. It’s a sticker the size of a piece of rice. I managed to stick it on Eden’s neck during her sleep a couple of nights ago. If it comes off, it loses all signal. If her heart stops beating, it senses that. It can give coordinates of her location with an error rate within eight to ten meters. I got the signal to come online about fifteen minutes ago.” He’s gloating.
“Impressive. Maybe you’re not completely useless.” I want more information about how he’s tracking the device, but that’ll only require submitting to his authority. Pass.
He shakes his head at me. “Kid, you might be a genius, but you could use some lessons on persuasion.” Just when I think he’ll continue and give me something more to go on with Eden’s whereabouts, Rick comes back into the room.
“I’ll let you know if I hear anything about Davis or the resident.” He nods Matt’s way. “We still have plans to move Hutton in the next day or two. Mrs. Lassiter has been calling me several times a day to get updated on what he’s doing. Maybe she’ll relax once he’s on one of her properties.” I’m not going anywhere. When I was exonerated on all charges, the FBI passed along my relocation request that came from Lassiter. It would seem that her money and power make her pushier than most.
“I’m not going anywhere. In fact, I don’t need to be babysat by the FBI, either. When is that my decision? I’m an adult.”
Rick takes a seat at the desk chair. “The threat to you hasn’t been neutralized. I’d argue you’re in more danger than we realized.” His brow furrowed; he looks to Matt to speak up.
“Why won’t you tell anyone who’s responsible for the massacre?” Matt asks me. “You know who it is, and for some reason you’ve never cooperated with the investigation. Why?” No one would believe it. Sometimes I don’t.
“I’d say that I’ve cooperated by not leaving. I’ve had the ability to ditch you guys and go since we arrived, but I haven’t.” Biding my time, so I can make sure that Eden comes with me. I’m the only one that can keep her from them. Unless they really have her this time.
