Shattered Secrets (Book of Red #1) (6 page)

I yawned, astounded that pain laced my every movement. A nurse gave me pills, but they did nothing for the throbbing and aching.

“It’s late,” Dad said, getting to his feet. He walked over to the officers, then stood behind them. A towering threat to leave his little girl alone. “My daughter needs rest. Besides, her friend is about to explode from remaining silent so long. You don’t want that on your hands, do you?”

Will burst out laughing, but Megan remained quiet. She held onto a small stuffed bear that Mom or Dad or someone brought in for me, staring. My story scared Megan. Every few minutes during my interrogation, she squeaked or a tear escaped and trailed down her cheeks. She didn’t even try to hide them now.

Officer Daniels nodded. “A couple more questions, if you don’t mind, Mr. Nichols?”

Dad met my eyes, the wrinkles at the edges twitching just a bit.

“I’m fine, Dad.”

“You’re very brave.” Officer Paulson smiled. “I’m not sure how long you’ve been awake, or what you know of the situation, Miss Nichols, but we need to know everything that happened to you. Do you have any idea who these young men were, what they wanted, or where they were from?”

For the first time since I woke up, I realized no one told me whether my kidnappers made it out of the fire alive. “Did you arrest them, sir?”

The sting of Psycho Number Two’s hand making contact with my cheek resurfaced, and I winced.

Officer Paulson glanced at his partner, who nodded.

“No, and they didn’t die in the fire either. The men who took you are still out there.”

My chin quivered. My kidnappers were running free with their sick, twisted fantasy that I was part of some magical world, a game, and they knew where I lived. Worse, they’d probably be furious I escaped.

Mom appeared by my side and wiped away my tears with her thumb. “She’s been through a lot. Can we finish this at our home tomorrow?”

I loved her. She knew how overwhelmed I felt, how scared I was, but the longer I waited to tell the police what they needed to know, the harder finding the criminals would be. Mom watched enough gritty crime shows for me to realize that. “I’ll be okay.”

I looked at Officer Paulson, took a deep breath, then told him everything. Mom and Dad exchanged worried glances when they heard I ran, but Dad patted my leg. He was proud; he’d always taught me to be a fighter.

“You remember quite a lot, Miss Nichols.”

Pointing at my father, I said, “If it weren’t for all the surveillance lessons he’s taught me through the years, you probably wouldn’t have learned much.”

Officer Paulson turned. “What branch of the service?”

Dad laughed. “Marine Corps.”

“Oorah.”

Megan rolled her eyes and tossed her long, blonde hair over her shoulder, clearly annoyed. Growing up in a military town, all we heard when veterans met were a series of grunts.

“Do you know what their plan was?” Officer Daniels asked, speaking for the first time since he entered the room, and, thankfully, getting the questioning back on point. His voice was cold, disinterested. Years of investigating crimes probably hardened him.

“Not exactly. The second guy kept saying ‘they’re coming for her’. He said they were paid to capture me alive, that my people and I were powerful, and my father was going to kill me publicly—”

Mom gasped. Listening to her little girl recount her kidnapping couldn’t be easy, and hearing someone wanted to kill me…

“—but not much more than that. They played a lot of computer games while I was there. I think they’re psychotic.”

“Is that everything?” Officer Daniels scribbled furiously on his pad.

“The first guy, he said he didn’t want to be bad anymore. I was cold, and he noticed me shivering. He was going to light a fire, but I didn’t realize he meant to burn me in the house.”

Officer Paulson grumbled. “Your rescuers took care of burning down the house. I’m glad those boys followed you—you may not be alive otherwise—however, they should have called for help as soon as they jumped in their car. Instead, they waited until they were in the middle of nowhere without signal to try, and now, every potential lead we had is in a pile of ashes.”

“Derick and Mark did that? For me? That was so… so br—”

“Stupid. They could have been killed, and we’ve told them as much.” Officer Daniels cracked a half-smile and scowled at Will, who once again couldn’t contain his laughter, one of the negative side-effects of growing up without a father around. “You do have good friends though.”

The two men motioned for my parents to follow them out of the room, and Megan and Will took that as their cue to crowd my bedside.

“I’m so sorry.” She handed me the bear as if maybe I did need it and her coffee wasn’t enough, then squeezed my hand. “Do you want us to stay?”

Will put a finger to his thin lips, shushing us, then pointed at the door. “Listen.”

“I believe we have enough to start with,” Officer Daniels whispered from the
not as safe as he thought
distance of the hall, “but if she thinks of anything, or you see something out of the ordinary, don’t hesitate to call us. Make sure you give Abigail our business cards. You may want to have her talk to someone; we don’t want her to experience post-traumatic stress disorder.”

Great. The cops thought I’d go insane.

Megan bent over and picked up a square piece of paper off the floor. “What’s this?”

Frantically searching the sheets, I realized my note from Derick must have fallen. “That’s mine.”

“Ooh. What is it?” Will snatched the note from her and opened it up, then sunk into a nearby chair and propped one of his long legs on the other. “A letter!”

No way could Will read that before me. God he could be such a jerk. The machines announced my heart rate to the world like a tattletale to a teacher. I’d be lucky to make it out of here without having to pay for this machine when my heart broke it. “It’s from Derick, Will. Could you give it back, please?”

Megan yanked the paper from his grip and then tucked it into my palm, frowning like the idiot had hurt her feelings all over again. “We should go, Will.”

“Oh, come
on
. I was just having a little fun.” Will Banaan was all about fun. Good thing Megan acted nothing like him; both their families were loaded, but, for whatever reason, their mothers—who were also best friends—decided to live a
normal
life in our
normal
town. Yet they always went on lavish vacations to Florida, and I don’t think Will took much of anything seriously. Not even the girl who would’ve dropped the world for him.

“You’re an ass, and you’re upsetting my best friend.”

I adored this Megan. I adored how she knew me, but I knew her too. She only wanted to leave to get Will away from me. She swore he acted differently when I wasn’t around, described him as kind-hearted and a good listener, how I would have described him in the past. I hoped that was true, because I didn’t see much to like anymore.

And leaving when a note from a boy was involved? Not like her at all. She’d want to inspect Derick’s letter with a psychic by our sides, you know, to tell the future in case we misinterpreted anything. “You okay?”

She nodded, a faint smile lighting her always-tan cheeks. “Your dad said you’re coming home tomorrow. I’ll drop by. You need time to yourself.” Megan leaned over and kissed my cheek. “Hope this gives you what you want. I love you.”

“Love you, too. And thanks for the coffee. Best get well present ever.”

“That’s because I’m the best.”

Watching them trail through the room and then slip by my parents and the officers, I unfolded Derick’s note.

Curiosity owned me.

Thank you, Megan.

Wispy lines bordered the page; loops and shapes appeared as butterflies or leaves depending on how I looked at them. I laughed. Derick drew our favorite spot at the bottom—a fallen log in the middle of the woods—framed by his abstract art.

Beauty pauses when she sees your face,

kind, pure, and full of grace.

Existence means more than you may know,

but some have intentions as pure as week-old snow.

Under the evening stars is where I’ll be,

waiting in our favorite spot to give you an apology.

Deep in the forest next to our houses, we found a small open area with a single fallen tree stretching across the ground thick with clover and little purple flowers. I’d bring the blanket, Derick lunch, and we’d spend all day out there in the spring and summer. We imagined worlds in faraway lands, talked about kings and queens, that is, of course, until we got older. Then we did a lot more reading, or talking about whatever and laughing. I longed to be home, to tromp through the woods with him, to hold his hand as I leapt over the stream.

“Whatcha reading, honey?” Mom startled me with her attempt at slang, and I nearly ripped the paper so I didn’t have to share.

But this was too special. Derick wanted to meet me at our place—
our
place. “Nothing. Just something Derick left for me.”

“Oh, I see.” She smiled tightly, sitting on the edge of the bed. Her cheeks flashed red. There was something so innocent about my mother, so sweet.

“Mo-
om
.”

A laugh escaped her, and it sounded restrained, tense. “You and Derick aren’t… you know?”

“
Mom
.” Apparently my kisses were enough to chase off even the best of friends; I certainly wasn’t doing any of
that
.

“You’re my daughter; I have to ask.” Mom stared at her lap, obviously too embarrassed to meet my eyes. “Besides, you and Derick were too intense. I expected something to happen between the two of you. You never did tell me why you stopped talking to him.”

“He stopped talking to me.”

She leaned her head to the side, comfortable to look at me now that we were past that horrid topic of conversation. “Did you two get in a fight?”

I rolled my eyes. Talking to Mom meant I was talking to Derick’s mom. The two were close. So frustrating, especially since Mom always rooted for Mark. “We kissed. And I guess he didn’t like it.”

Her blue eyes widened. “That was the first time?”

“Shouldn’t we be talking about putting me in counseling sessions or something? You should know I don’t want to talk to you about boys, Mom.”

“Do you feel like you need counseling, Abby?”

How on Earth could she make this my decision? “I know I want to go home and get back to life. What day is it?”

“Sunday.” She reached for the remote on the rolling table.

Two days. I lost
two
days! “Are you going to let me go to school tomorrow?”

Mom pressed the up arrow a few times, getting no results, then she jabbed her finger at the gigantic, yet archaic, plastic tuner. “Do you want to?”

“What’s up, Mom? Why are you answering my questions with questions? And why aren’t you looking at me? This is serious. You know, I’m lucky to be alive and all that.”

A tear slid down her cheek. “I thought you’d want to stay home tomorrow, Tuesday and Wednesday, too. I figured with it being the week before Christmas and Wednesday being a half-day, you wouldn’t have too much going on. That would have been easier for me. I’m a terrible mother, Abby. I should have told you years ago.”

Closing my eyes, I drew in a sharp breath. “Told… me… what?”

I wasn’t sure I wanted to know.

“I’m going to call in a counselor, to help make this easier for you, to help you understand.”

Now
I
cried. “
Please
, tell me—”

“You’re adopted.”

Derick

erick, wait up!”