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“I believe so.” Alanna shrugged. “But, with Kate, anything is possible.”
“You met Ms. Easton when you were in foster care?”
“She was older than me”—Alanna nodded—“and had been in and out foster homes since she was a baby. She took me under her wing, kept the older children from hurting me, but more than that, she called me her little sister. I didn’t feel so alone anymore. I felt loved for the first time since my parents had died.
“When a foster family was found for her, it devastated me. I cried for several days. It was like losing my parents all over again. I felt as if the rug had been pulled out from under me again. About a month later, when Kate came back from lunch, she was there. She told me they had sent her back because of her behavior. She told me she had deliberately misbehaved just so she would be sent back. She told me she had missed her little sister. I fell for her lies hook, line, and sinker.” Alanna shook her head at herself in self-disgust.
“At first, I was happy Kate had been sent back, but little by little, even at that young age, I started noticing something was off about her. She would lie to the staff constantly when she got in trouble by blaming other children. The more Kate disliked you, or even worse, didn’t give in to her demands, the more trouble they got into. The staff liked her and believed the lies she would tell them. If I said anything to her about the lies she told, when I left the room, I would come back and find some of my things had disappeared or been destroyed. The older we grew, the more afraid of her I became.
“I was given to another foster family, and I was thrilled to be away from her. When I was sent back, I prayed she wouldn’tbe there. She was. There was no place where I could hide that she couldn’t find me. She would watch me like a hawk, and the more frightened I became of her, the more she liked it. When she discovered something scared me, she would hone in on it, and if I didn’t do something she wanted, Kate would punish me by using those fears against me. The harshness of the punishment depended on how angry she was at me.” Alanna didn’t go into any of the details of the methods Kate had used against her.
Taking a jerky breath, she continued on under her lawyer’s scrutiny. “It came to the point I was afraid to be alone with her and would give my things away rather than see them end up with her or be destroyed.”
Her lips turned upward in a pained smile. “Finally, I was given a reprieve when Kate was sent to a new foster home. I remember sleeping for two days straight with her gone. I wasn’t the only one glad to see her away. Out of thirty kids, she had everyone terrified of her. Truthfully, I think some of the staff were, too, by that point.
“About six months after Kate left, I was taken to a new foster home. They didn’t tell me it was the same one where Kate was living. The only good part of that foster home was the Fields family. They were wonderful to me. They were to all the children. Despite having a child of their own, they had taken in a boy the same age as Kate, then me. However, there wasn’t a day that went by that Kate wouldn’t throw in my face that I was only there because she had told Mrs. Fields she missed her little sister.”
“She wanted you indebted to her,” Mrs. Bates surmised.
“Exactly.” Alanna nodded. “Of course, I was too young to realize it at the time. I was too afraid of losing the Fields. They were really good people. I had grown close to their son, Sam, who was younger than me.
“Kate started using my affection for Sam against me. She would threaten to do something and blame it on me so I wouldbe sent back to the group home. Needless to say, I walked on eggshells around her,” she said wryly.
Her lawyer gave her a commiserating glance. “She was a Regina George.”
“Kate could run circles around Regina.”
“You mentioned another foster child was there …”
Alanna gave her a curt nod. “Yes, there was—Owen Hudson. “
The two women made eye contact.
“And despite what your husband, the sheriff, may have told you about Owen’s past history, I can say, with absolute certainty, not all of the crimes he committed have been documented. In case you’re under any delusion about what Owen is capable of, it doesn’t even begin to scratch the surface of the ugliness inside of him. The more you unearth, the uglier it will get.”
“I’m not afraid of him.” Mrs. Bates gave her an unwavering stare.
Alanna gave the elegant lawyer a pitying glance. “You’re not understanding what I’m trying to tell you.” Placing her hands down flat on the table, Alanna leaned forward. “I’ve been trying to warn you that Owen isn’t the only one to be afraid of. Imagine someone getting joy from hurting the most innocent of creatures, then imagine that same person being a pawn of a woman who gets the same sick kicks, and you still wouldn’t be able to comprehend what those two are capable of when they don’t get their way. Sadly, if you continue to represent me and get on their radar, you’re going to be finding that out for yourself.
“Kate will find every miniscule detail about your life. There will be no part of your life untouched until she discovers what will hurt you the most. And then … God help you when she does. That’s when she’ll get Owen to hurt or destroy what you value the most, or even worse, she does it herself. Mrs. Bates, do youand your family a favor—take that expensive briefcase and run as far as you can from my case,” Alanna begged her.
Instead of being frightened, her lawyer gave her a mocking smile.
Alanna wanted to shake the woman for disregarding her warning so lightly until she noticed the steely determination in her eyes.
“I’m not running. If either Kate Easton or Owen Hudson come after me, they’ll get more than they bargained for.”
Alanna’s shoulders slumped. By the time Owen and Kate were done with Mrs. Bates, the lawyer would be lucky to have a nail to hang her fancy law degree on.
“Is this the reason you’ve been refusing to speak to me and the sheriff? Because they’ve been using something you care about against you?”
Alanna nodded, defeated. She had to get out of jail. She couldn’t take another day of Deputy Porter. She had never committed a crime in her life, but if she heard his irritating voice one more time, a capital murder charge was in her near future.
“You’re afraid they’ll hurt Elizabeth,” Mrs. Bates guessed. “She isn’t talking, either. Is that because it was her idea to hold up the patent or—”
“She was protecting me,” Alanna cut her off.
Her lawyer arched a brow at her. “She protected you by getting you arrested for her kidnapping?”
