Afterthoughts (19 page)

“
Paige, couldn’t you hear
me? Couldn’t you hear me tell you I believe you? I’m on your side,
Paige. Couldn’t you hear me?” Jay was pleading with her.

“
No, no. What are you
talking about?” she whispered as she looked at him with a puzzled
expression.

“
Junna. I found some info
on Junna,” Jay said desperately trying to snap Paige out of
it.

“
Who’s Junna?” she asked
blankly.

John butted in, “Yeah, who’s
Junna?”

“
What do you mean?” Jay
begged. “Junna, Junna Breck. I think we’ve found her.”

Paige just looked away. She didn’t
have tears to cry. What did Junna have to do with this? Paige felt
as if she were sinking, sinking through her chair, through the
floor. Her head was spinning. Guilt and grief had totally consumed
her. She would rather die than to face another day.

She could hear the muffled
conversations around her. She could tell people were walking by and
looking at her but she couldn’t understand a thing they were saying
or what they were doing. It was all noise. She felt as if she was
in the middle of a whirlwind and the entire world was whizzing
around her so rapidly that she couldn’t make anything out of it.
She wanted to pay. She had been bad, very bad and she wanted to
pay. She could hear a voice talking in her head, telling her how
bad she was. Then she could hear another voice telling her not to
listen. Not to believe anything that was happening to her. She
barely felt Jay touch her hand. She wanted to pull away but was
unable to move. Someone helped her stand and walk. Where were they
going? She didn’t know; didn’t care.

Chapter 37

Adam couldn’t believe his eyes. He
found Junna. There was a second article in the Courier-Journal
about her. Junna Brooks was abandoned along with two other
siblings. An older brother named Shepherd and a younger sister
named Glenna. Junna and Shepherd were not adopted and had to grow
up in The Tree House. After running away for a period of three
months, Junna returned alone. Ian Messing had helped raise her at
the Orphanage for a while but Junna Brooks was sent to a foster
family and there was no sign of her since then. She simply just
disappeared.

Adam looked up from the computer and
saw Jay sitting next to the chair where Paige had been. “What on
earth is going on?” he walked out as Paige was led away in
handcuffs.

“
I need to talk to you,”
Jay pulled Adam by his arm and led him back into Adam’s
office.

“
Have you found out
anything … anything at all about Junna?”

“
Yes.” Adam explained the
article.

“
Do you have an address of
the foster home?” Jay questioned.

“
Well of course. We do
have that information.” Adam held up a piece of paper that he
jotted the information on.

“
I’m going to talk to them
now,” Jay grabbed the paper and headed out the door. He read the
address as he jumped into his car. “Mr. and Mrs. Brett Logins,
Henry County? This is in Henry County!” He started the car and sped
away.

The drive was long and slow due to
construction on I-71. Jay turned on his siren and went around them
all in the emergency lane. He sped along as much as possible being
impatient with everyone on the road.

“
Idiots!” he screamed as
people would not move out of his way.

When he arrived at the address, he ran
up and knocked on the door.

A small elderly woman opened the door.
She was in her house coat and was carrying a cup of
coffee.

Jay showed her his badge and asked if
he could ask some questions.

“
Okay, but please sit down
on the swing,” she gestured toward an old swing that was in bad
need of repainting. “Would you like something to drink?”

“
No, I’m fine.” He forced
a smile at her. “I need to ask you about Junna Brooks. Have you
seen her lately?”

“
No, not for a while. She
left here several years ago. Sweet girl. I really thought of her as
my daughter. I don’t know what happened to her. Is she alright?
I’ve waited so long to hear from her. I never thought she would do
this to me. I’ve been so worried.”

“
I don’t know. I’ve never
met her. But I would like to. If she comes by would you tell her to
give me a call?” he said as he smiled at her again and handed her
his card.

“
What about your husband,
would he know anything?”

“
No, no. He passed away
five years back. I’ve had a heck of a time keeping this farm
running without him. I’ve hired a man to run it for me but he just
doesn’t do it the way poor Brett used to. He stays out back. We
have another small house. It used to be a slave house. I don’t
think of him as a slave, just some help. Don’t get me wrong, he
does a great job. It just will never compare to my poor Brett, God
rest his soul,” Mrs. Logins rambled on. “It’s hard keeping up with
the fields.

We gave up on corn. It’s all soybeans
now. You know, he asked about her before. About Junna. Said he knew
her a few years back. I figured he was sweet on her. She is a
little beauty.”

“
Wait,” Jay interrupted.
“He knows Junna? Is he around? I’d like to talk to him
too.”

“
He comes and goes. Don’t
know if he’s here right now, but he lives in the house in the back.
Just drive around the side there,” she pointed to a small gravel
road that went around the house. “You can’t miss it. It’s the only
thing that’s not a barn back there.”

“
Thank you, Mrs. Logins.
You’ve been a great help. If you hear from Junna, please let me
know,” he said as he shook her hand lightly and left, heading for
the house in the back.

Jay parked along a chain link fence
that lined the driveway. The house sat on a steep hill with weeds
and grass grown up all around. He knocked several times before
trying the handle. The door was not locked. As he entered the door,
he stepped into a huge kitchen with wooden floors and wooden
counter tops. Off to the left was a small, sunken room that was set
up for watching television. To the right was a large living room.
Behind that was a sitting area that had an upright piano in the
corner. The walls of this room were painted an awful lime
green.

Jay walked through the living room and
into a large bedroom. There was nothing special about this room. It
was painted a dull white and the bed was covered with a well used
quilt. He looked around the room for a sign of who lived there.
There were no clothes, shoes, no clues at all.

He passed through the bedroom into a
large bathroom. The bathroom was large enough to include a king
sized bed. The bed was covered in a purple flowered bedspread and
beside it sat a small garbage can full of tissues. To the left was
a door that was lined with purple curtains. He slid the slide bolt
lock to the side to try to open the door but it wouldn’t open
easily. After a good push, it opened to reveal old open wooden
stairs.

The stairway was very dusty but he
could see where footprints were made proving someone had recently
passed over them. He cautiously climbed the stairs and made his way
to the top. He walked into the room that looked like a mezzanine
over a saw mill. There were windows that lined all around and
cabinets that were trimmed in copper. He looked out over the saw
mill at the equipment that he could tell had been unused for quite
a long time. He walked around the room until he found another door
that has locked with a slide bolt. As he touched the bolt, he heard
a woman scream.

He listened carefully. “Hello?” he
yelled.

He again heard a woman’s voice.
“Hello! Oh God help me!”

Jay tried to open the door. “Locked!”
he screamed as he busted through. “Where are you?”

“
I’m here! I’m here!” He
followed the voice up another flight of stairs. When he came to a
closed door, he knocked it down to get into the room where the
screams were coming from.

“
Thank God. Thank God!”
she was crying hysterically. Jay ran to her. She was tied to a
chair and was beaten severely. He cut her loose and helped her to
her feet. As she sobbed on his shoulder, he looked around the room.
He could see a boarded window, just as Paige had described it. He
found the mattress; the bloody mattress.

“
You’re Junna!” he said as
the reality of the situation sank in.

“
Yes. How did you know?
How did you find me?”

“
I’m a friend of Paige’s.
She needs your help.”

“
I know, she’s confessed.
Get me out of here first. He could be back any second.”

“
Who?” Jay
questioned.

“
I’ll explain later. First
we have to help Paige.” Jay picked her up and carried her to the
car.

Chapter 38

“
No!”
the man screamed in the middle of Pauline’s restaurant.
Realizing he yelled out loud, he looked around the café and then at
the newspaper in his hand. “My team lost. Darn those Cardinals” he
pretended to laugh it off as the crowd just looked at him as if he
were nuts. He threw money on the table and ran out of the café. Why
didn’t he think of Jay? He hadn’t expected Jay to be so smart. He
was reading him. He knew he had Junna and he couldn’t get to the
farm quick enough to stop them. “The police station, they are going
to the police station,” he said out loud just in case Junna was
trying to read him. He had to be more careful to block her out. He
ran to his pickup truck and headed toward the police
station.

He parked across the street and
started to concentrate. He could read Jay’s thoughts and started to
interject his own. Jay was thinking about how to get the police
chief to listen to him and to Junna. Jay thought it was crazy to
believe he could convince John about the reading. “Think Jay,” he
said icily. “It is crazy. Junna is just as crazy. She’s messing
with everyone. She’s not on your side. Paige is guilty. She and
Junna are in it together. This is all a cover up.”

Meanwhile, Jay looked over at Junna
who was staring straight ahead but not focused on anything. “She’s
crazy,” he thought. “She’s helping Paige cover this up. It’s an
insanity defense for them both. They are both guilty.”

Suddenly, Junna turned toward him.
“Jay, don’t let him do this. You know what you believe. Don’t let
him in. He’s trying to turn you against us all.”

Jay blinked at her nervously, “You
read me?”

“
Yes. I read you and your
thoughts were not your own. Who do you believe, Jay?”

Jay shook his head as if clearing
cobwebs from his brain. “I believe in Paige,” he sighed.

“
Good, now let’s get to
her. Keep your mind focused on only your belief in her.”

They didn’t speak another word until
they arrived at the police station. A crowd had gathered around the
area to protest the arrest of a juvenile. At least that was what
Jay could make out of the noise of the crowd as they fought their
way through. Once inside, Jay looked for John. He found Hannah and
asked her to get something for Junna to drink. He grabbed Adam by
the arm and ran to John’s office.

Chapter 39

Paige woke cold and hungry. She looked
around to find that she was in a dark room. This one was lined in
bars. She realized where she was. All of the grief of what she had
done suddenly sat on her chest, making it impossible to
breathe.

She heard a door open and footsteps
heading her way. She saw Jay first. Someone was behind him, but she
couldn’t see who it was until Junna stepped around. Paige knew she
looked familiar and within a few seconds, she remembered
her.

“
What’s going on Junna?
Please tell me.”

“
He’ll kill me if I do,
but I’m dead anyway. Please try to block him. I know you are weak
right now, but try really hard to block him,” Junna
pleaded.

Paige nodded as Jay opened the cell
and they both walked in to sit on the cot in the corner of the
room. John Waters walked in behind them and Adam behind him. They
stood guarding the doorway.

“
Where do I start?” Junna
started coughing uncontrollably. After she cleared her throat she
began again. “When I was six, my mother died and my father left me
on the doorstep of The Tree House. I was not alone. I had a four
year old brother and a three year old sister …” she hesitated a
moment. “I’ll come back to that one. My sister was lucky enough to
be adopted right away. Shepherd and I were never adopted and had to
live in The Tree House until I was sixteen. Ian Messing was cruel
and uncaring. Life was unbearable there for us so I ran away taking
my younger brother with me.”

Paige looked around the room. She
wanted Jay to look at her but he just stared at the
door.

Junna continued, “Anyway, we found an
abandoned farm house not far from the orphanage, broke in and
stayed there. My brother was fourteen then and was as impossible as
a fourteen year old could be. At least that’s what I thought that
was it. I moved into the main house with the couple. They told me I
could be their daughter and stay with them so we went through the
foster program. But I kept my brother hidden in the house. He was a
bit unique. I know this is sounding all mixed up but I don’t know
how to explain it all, especially in a rush,” Junna began to
cry.