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She looks angry and I say bitterly. “I’m sorry, Holly. It was exactly the right thing to do. The fact your entire apartment was shipped here that same day and that you were stripped of all communications was to make you disappear. We need Colton to fear for your life in order to flush him out of whatever sewer he’s in.”
“Then you’ve wasted your time.” She laughs bitterly. “Colton doesn’t care for me; he wouldn’t give a fuck.”
“Maybe not, but surely even your stepbrother would show up to your funeral.”
“Oh my God, what?”
She starts to shake and I place my arm around her shoulders and pull her tightly against me and stroke her hair as I whisper, “The headlines the next day reported you as missing. Rumor was created that you took off when your career ended. Various reports from fabricated sources speak of you being suicidal, crazy even and I’m sorry to say presumed dead.”
She pulls away and says in shock, “You killed me, why?”
“To flush out the person responsible for putting you here. As we speak, your father has returned from the Middle East and you stepmother is dining out on tearful interviews about how devastated she is. We are watching their every move and monitoring their phones. If Colton shows his face, we’ve got him, and then you can miraculously reappear and explain it as a vacation. We have your story ready and make it check out so now you can see why I need to keep you inside. If anyone is watching this place, or monitoring our communications, your cover would be blown.”
She falls silent and I can tell she’s struggling. I watch as she plays with her fingers as the emotional part of her deals with the pragmatic part. Holly will know this is the best way to discover her stepbrother’s whereabouts, but she’s no fool and says icily, “Why didn’t you let me help? I could have arranged to meet him, find out what he knows. You didn’t need to trash my reputation and make me look crazy.”
“I’m sorry, baby, we did. There was no other way because your brother is somehow manipulating our communications. Whoever he is working for is always one step ahead of us and pulling our strings. This gives us the element of surprise and until we have him under lock and key, none of us are safe.”
“I’ve just got your word on that; how do I know you’re telling the truth?”
“You don’t, you just have to learn to trust me, Holly and like I said, I don’t think you’re ready for that.”
She stands and says tightly, “If you’ll excuse me, I need some time to think about this.”
“Of course, take as long as you need, but know that whatever happens, I have your best interests at heart. I’m not about to break another person in my exposure of the truth, so can you trust me Holly?”
She looks a little surprised and curious and then says, “Maybe I can trust you if you earn that trust. Be open with me, Dexter, let me in a little and let me make up my own mind.”
I know what she’s asking, but it’s impossible, so I shake my head. “Like I said, trust needs to be earned, and we are strangers. Two people balancing on the edge of something that could change us forever. Any decisions we make have consequences and they need to be the right ones, for both our sakes.”
She looks as if she has something else to say but thinks better of it and just walks away. As I watch her go, I can only imagine what’s running through her head right now, but if I know Holly, she will reach the right decision and that is something I’m anxious to see.
