Broken Hearted (4 page)

Trey sadly shook his head in agreement, helping her
into the bathroom, not knowing if he should stay, he stood
awkwardly, waiting for Faith to give him a sign.

Faith grinned. “Trey, get out of here, I’ll yell
when I need your help.”

He laughed as he walked out, closing the bathroom
door.

Back in bed, Faith told Trey, “Truthfully, I started
on the file when the medicine you gave me started taking effect and
I fell asleep. Then you ask me to leave the file until you could
rest. I need to go over all the papers carefully now.”

He let her know that would be great because he
needed to go for a walk and clear his head anyway. She asked if
he’s all right, and he smiled and told her he would be back to his
old self in record time. Before he left for his walk, Trey laid her
pistol beside the bed. He went to her suitcase and got out her
knife.

Handing the knife to Faith, he sternly announced,
“Put this where you always carry it, Faith, I don’t want anyone to
be able to catch you venerable ever again.”

“
The knife goes in my bra, under my
breast, Trey. I can’t put the bra on and get any rest.”

He told her to keep the weapons ready to use if
necessary. Faith smiled and nodded, choosing a file she begins to
read. She’d be fine while he went for his walk. She saw his
security system earlier this morning and watched him set the level
too high before they went on their run. She’s sure Trey’s security
would remain on high while she was staying with him.

Faith opened the file as Trey closed the door to the
bedroom. She was right when thinking the case had something to do
with her. The open folder revealed a crime scene Faith is
acquainted with all too well. A husband and wife lay shot to death
in their own living room. As Faith studied the pictures closer, she
realized a teddy bear was showing from behind the couch. The scared
four-year-old little girl must have hidden behind the couch while
her parents lay bleeding to death in front of her. The victims’
names were Nickolas and Faith Tallberg. The address of the shooting
was the house Faith sold last year. She couldn’t live there any
longer after her parents were murdered. She didn’t even know who
purchased the beautiful house at One Twenty-Two Grand Avenue.

Faith sighed as she remembered all the wonderful
times she had living with her mom and dad in that house. Gloria and
Tanner Julies, her delightful parents. She loved when her father
came home from the jobs that kept him away from his family for
weeks at a time. He was so loving and he brought her unique and
precious presents. Faith realized for the first time that her
mother was completely the opposite. Sadly, she remembered her
mother wasn’t loving at all. Her mother constantly strained to
create a perfect Faith. If she desired to play, her mother made her
study.

She kept telling Faith, “You must be smarter than
everyone else in your class.”

She prepared Faith to skip two grades in school.
That’s how Faith met Dawn. Her parents did the same thing to her
too. Faith smiled recalling her best friend, they were inseparable
from the moment they met. However, their mothers made them compete
against each other all the time. If it wasn’t school, it was sports
or playing the stupid piano.

They both hated competing against each other, but
knew they needed to be better than anyone else in school or their
parents wouldn’t let them see each other outside of school. Dawn’s
younger sister, Roni, was always in trouble. She stayed drugged up
and playing in some band all the time. Faith couldn’t help but feel
sorry for her because she stayed in trouble with her dad all the
time. Roni was always into Gothic, and she was a great singer when
she stayed sober.

Faith leaned back on her pillows, resting her head
for a few minutes. Closing her eyes, she slowly remembered the day
her parents were murdered. They were having a wonderful Christmas
dinner with her aging grandparents. She loved visiting with them.
Her grandfather was such a soft and gentle country man who loved
his family with all his heart. Her grandmother was a lovely
forgetful woman, who forgot things at the funniest times. Christmas
had always been a special time in their house. Even her mother got
into the celebration of decorating the whole house for the
occasion. She smiled, remembering the many presents from her Mimi
and Poppy. It was a perfect evening and Mimi and Poppy had to go
home. They wanted to get home before it got too late. Poppy hated
driving after dark. Shortly after they left the doorbell rang. Her
mother called out.

“
I bet your Mimi forgot her purse
again.”

Faith heard her mother’s scream as if it were
happening all over again. Her father ran past her into the living
room, Faith followed behind him. The chill of death went up the
back of her neck. As she recalled that night so vividly, as if she
were watching a movie through a glass window. The young girl
screaming couldn’t be her. She smelled the blood in the air. She’s
crying for her mommy and daddy.

“
Please don’t be dead! Don’t die!
Please don’t die!”

Nevertheless, as she looked back and forth between
the two of them, in her heart, she knew they were dead. She
couldn’t believe the murderer turned the gun on her then shook his
head, running out of the house. Faith was left alone with her dead
parents at twelve-years-old. She remembered picking up the phone
and calling nine-one-one but everything after that was a nightmare.
She was surprised when her mom had left a will leaving her to the
Moore’s. Dawn’s mother was her mom’s best friend, but she always
wondered why she didn’t get to live with her grandparents.

The Moore’s always said it was because her
grandparents were too old to raise a young girl. That sounded like
her mother, but the Moore’s wouldn’t let her visit her
grandparents, she couldn’t even go to their funerals, and Faith
would never forgive them for that one act of cruelty. Dee and John
Moore were the perfect couple to the world. However, if her mom
knew what happened behind closed doors, she never would’ve given
her to them. She hated John, he made them call him Mr. Moore, and
he was so cruel to all of the girls.

In addition, his wife Dee closed her eyes to all the
pain he inflicted on them. They knew why she didn’t help them. If
she did, he would hurt her worse. Therefore, they were on their own
with the sick monster. The Moore’s had three daughters. Janice was
two years older than Faith. Dawn, her best friend, was the same age
as Faith. Roni was the baby who was five years younger. They grew
up in fear of Mr. Moore. He could be so cruel and vicious to them
that they tried to stay out of his way.

When Faith first read the files, she had glanced
over them. She knew Trey needed her, but now she knew why. Oh,
Lord! She realized exactly how she fit into this scenario. Faith
Tallberg was the same age, same build, and even the same hair, and
eye color as her. She couldn’t believe this was happening. She
lived because someone killed the wrong person… That’s why Trey was
protecting her now.

She moaned to herself, “Trey and I have to catch
this man. We are good together in every way.”

Working with Trey again would be great, but she
would need to keep her feelings for him hidden deep inside her
heart. She put the file down and thought about his kisses. She
wanted to whisper to him, “Trey take me in your arms and make love
to me with the passion I know is in your heart.” However, Faith
knew he was guarding his heart again He did the same thing when she
first met him.

Trey was having bad dreams again, and he thought she
didn’t realize he dreamed about finding Shana’s body in the
dumpster. Even though they had discussed Shana’s death many times,
he still tried to keep the dreams of her private. Faith could only
believe he loved her so much that even his dreams of her were too
special to share. She could honor those feeling, however, up to her
this time, she needed to be secure in the fact that he loved her
and only her. She didn’t want to take Shana’s place.

Faith wanted her own special place in his heart.
With everything that had happened in the last six months, they may
never get that love back. She wanted the love that comes with true,
honest trust. She didn’t trust Trey with her heart anymore. It’s
still mending from the last time he broke it.

Faith knew she needed to get well quickly. They had
a job to do and finding Faith Tallberg’s murderer would only be the
start of a long and deadly adventure. Faith gave a half grin. She
and Trey lived with death at their shoulders all day and beside
their heads at night. It’s the adrenal rush, she recognized they
love. And knowing they made a difference in this crazy mixed up
world.

Somehow, deep in the pit of her soul, she knew Mr.
Moore was involved in the murders. Nevertheless, why would he want
her dead? She had nothing left to give him. If she found out he
murdered her parents, she’d kill him herself. Dawn had been her
best friend throughout life. Even though she was Mr. Moore’s
daughter, she would pull the trigger herself on that bastard.

Faith began to think about the four-year-old little
girl in this case. She watched as someone shot both her parents to
death. She’d never be the same happy little girl she was before
they were killed. Faith knew because she’d been there. No one could
take that pain out of your heart. The memory of that night was
already seared into the little girl’s mind and heart. Faith must
talk to the little girl soon. She needed to explain that she
honestly knew how she felt right now. Losing both the people you
loved and depended on to keep you happy and safe was
devastating.

CHAPTER SIX

Trey left for his walk, winding down the path he and
Faith took yesterday. He had no energy even though he slept for
hours. The dreams about Shana Weston have returned. He remembered
the touch and feel of her body.  Even though they were in high
school, their love for each other was real. She had the most
beautiful long blonde hair and blue grey eyes and was so athletic.
She loved to swim, hike, and run. All those things she and Trey did
together because they were inseparable. Everyone adored Shana, so
her death was hard on the whole school. Shana had broken up with
him the last semester of school and had started getting hanging out
with the wrong crowd. Trey still didn’t think he’d ever truly let
her go. He remembered canvasing the streets watching for her with
their friends. The last time he saw her, she was high and wouldn’t
let him take her home. She was with some strange guy. Trey ran into
her the night she disappeared, he tried to talk to her but she
wouldn’t listen. Her boyfriend stood between them telling her to
get in the car. She left with him yelling, “Shana, I love you.
Please don’t go.”

The next day he discovered she was missing. The
police told all her friends to walk the streets and to check in all
the dumpsters. Trey was hoping she might still be drugged or
frightened so he needed to keep looking for her. He wouldn’t
believe she might be dead. He needed to find her alive, huddled
somewhere waiting for him. They walked the streets for hours. It’s
cold, so cold he couldn’t move his fingers. He stepped up to a
dumpster behind the local restaurant and opened the lid.

Shana lay stripped and lifeless. He couldn’t say a
word. A police officer approached him and took his arm, leading him
away. The utmost beautiful girl in the world was dead. Shana was
the reason Trey became a detective in the SVU. He didn’t want
anyone else to feel as alone and abandoned as he did that
night.

He went down on his knees to the ground with his
head in his hands. “I couldn’t help Shana but I won’t let Faith get
killed. I will protect her from the people who are trying to
destroy and kill her.”

Trey still needed to make some phone calls and set
up some meetings for tomorrow with Eli Bentley. The undercover FBI
agent he worked with now. Faith would be surprised to find out
Trey’s a FBI agent and not just a detective anymore. He loved
undercover work and he hoped she understood. They offered him this
job so he had to leave, he wanted her to come with him. He just
didn’t have the opportunity to ask her. There was so much still
unspoken between them.

Trey walked back home and went straight upstairs to
check on Faith. She slept soundly as he made his way quietly down
the hallway to his office. He called Eli and they set up meeting
for the next day. He’d be gone for a few days. Trey realized he'd
better get his sister, Eve, to come stay with Faith while he’s
gone. Faith would be off her foot for a few days any way. Eve and
Faith were still best friends, he’s sure they both had a lot of
catching up to do.

Eve’s a Real Estate agent so she could do some of
her work from home. Trey knew she’d be happy to visit with Faith
while he’s away. He’s going to the stake out tonight instead of
tomorrow morning because he needed to take the time to clear his
head before diving into this job. Once he and Eli started, they
wouldn’t stop until they took down this drug ring and hopefully
catch the murder of Faith Tallberg. Eli believed in doing so, they
would find out who killed Faith’s parents too.

He strolled down the hall to Faith’s room to tell
her Eve was coming to visit. His heart stopped, the bed was empty.
He called her name, going to the bathroom door. He heard her
singing like an angel. Trey doesn’t know how she made it to the
bathroom by herself on that foot. Nevertheless, he’d leave her to
her shower and fix some dinner. Eve would be hungry. He wished he
could eat anything without gaining weight like Eve. Trey knew he
had to run to stay fit and keep the pounds off. His Italian mom
loved to cook so family dinners were always fun.