Authors: Michelle Love
I shake my head. “Let’s give her until this evening. If we don’t hear from her, we can figure out what else we need to do. She can be really stubborn.”
Kyle looks distracted, yet not all that concerned as he says, “You know her best.”
I watch for his reaction as I say, “No matter how mad she is or why. She’ll realize she can’t just turn her back on us. It’ll just take her some time, I guess.”
Eden rises and moves towards me. “Alyssa, maybe you should take a ride around town, and see if you can find her car at a motel or something. If you can find her, you can talk her into calming down and coming back.”
“Alone?” I ask him.
“You have the GPS system, you’ll be fine,” Kyle says. “Go look for her, Alyssa.”
I head up the stairs to get my things. “Okay, then. I’ll grab my purse and keys and see you two later. I might stop and pick up some steaks or something to cook later.”
ALYSSA
I drop the top on my BMW, the air feels cool and crisp. I’ve not driven the car very much at all. I turn up my radio and breathe in the fresh air. The pine trees which line the driveway give off an aroma that makes me feel at home, just like back in Cloudcroft. It’s hard to believe such a small amount of time has passed since we were there.
A small motel sign pops up as I drive down the road. It’s not far from the house. I pull into the parking lot, but her car isn’t there. I drive further down the road, and find another little motel, but her car isn’t here either.
What is up with her? Why is she so mad? How can she do this to Kyle?
A small grocery store is up ahead. I pull into the parking lot. It’s such a small town I decide I can leave the top down on the car as I run in. The small store has a pretty good meat market. I find several steaks quickly, then get some potatoes to bake, and some fresh green beans.
“Will that be all for you today?” the lady at the cash register asks me.
“Yes, thank you,” I answer her.
I look out the glass front of the building and see a police car driving slowly as it passes behind my car. “Can I ask you something?” I ask the lady.
“Yes,” she answers.
“Do you happen to know the sheriff?”
“He’s my uncle,” she tells me.
“Oh! Then it is safe to say he’s a stand-up kind of person, right?” I ask, not believing how small this town is.
“He’s the best. Why do you ask?” she asks me.
“He was just driving by my car. Just being curious,” I answer her.
She looks out the glass wall. “That’s a nice car. He was probably just admiring it,” she says.
I smile at her. “I’m sure that’s it. Thanks,” I say, as I walk away from her.
I drive through the little town, looking for Laura’s car. I notice the same police car turns out onto the road behind me. It follows me for three blocks. I decide I should go back to the house. I’m careful to follow all of the speed limits and use my turn signals. The damn sheriff stays a ways behind me all the way back. Just as I turn into the driveway, and push the code on the gate to open it the lights on the police car turn on.
The gates open. I want to drive in, and close them behind me, but I’m a little bit afraid to. The sheriff gets out of his car and walks up to the side of my car. He seems to be purposely taking his time before he tells me why he’s bothering me.
“Sir, can you tell me why you’re stopping me?” I ask him.
Pulling down his dark sunglasses, he glares at me. “I’ll ask the questions, young lady.”
I turn my head to look forward. “Okay, then, what questions do you have for me?”
“Can you understand me? I will ask you the questions, now be quiet,” he says.
I close my eyes. I just remembered Kyle told him my name is Kat. If he wants to see my driver’s license he’ll know it’s not the truth, and that won’t be good, not good at all. I picture Kyle’s face in my mind and then call his name out in my head. I open my eyes and look at the gate.
“I need you to step out of the car,” the sheriff tells me.
I turn to look at him. “Why?”
“I’ll tell you only once more, I need you to step out of the car,” he says, then puts his hand on his gun which hangs on a belt around his waist.
I laugh at his actions. “You must be crazy. You can’t pull a gun on me just because I won’t do what you say. You’ve not given me any reason as to why you’ve even pulled up behind me.”
I hear Kyle’s truck start up from the garage, it’s loud. To my surprise, the sheriff moves his hand off of the gun. He moves away from my car and goes back towards his.
“I’ll let this go, for now, Missy,” he says, and then gets into his car, and pulls away before Kyle can make it all the way out to us.
I pull through the gates as Kyle’s truck comes into sight. I see he’s alone in the truck. I drive past him, and motion for him to follow me. I pull up in front of the house, and he pulls back into the garage. I walk into the front door with my bag of groceries.
Eden meets me at the door. “What the hell happened? Kyle said he heard you calling him, and saw the front entrance in his head. What is that about?”
Before I can answer him Kyle walks into the side door from the garage. “Did I see a police car driving off, Al?”
“A police car?” Eden asks.
“The sheriff followed me out here, and then turned on his lights just as I pulled into the driveway. I did nothing wrong. I felt like he was going to try and take me in or something. I pictured Kyle in my head and called to him. I didn’t call to you, Eden because I couldn’t have you in danger of being taken into custody,” I tell them.
“You did the right thing, Al,” Kyle tells me.
“I thought so. I was taking a gamble it would even work,” I tell him.
Eden unpacks the bag of groceries, and says, “Maybe you should try to telecommunicate with Laura.”
“I can try. I’ll go up to our bedroom and try to concentrate. I bought steaks for you guys to cook out on the grill later this evening. Can you put this stuff up, and I’ll go try to communicate with her?”
I go upstairs to our bedroom and lay down on the bed. I see Laura’s face in my head. I call her name over and over again in my mind. I can’t hear anything back. I can’t be sure this is working.
I have to stop myself from thinking about how it might not work. I sit up and hold my hands up to my head. I try to see her face again. An image of her with tears streaming down her face comes into focus. I open my eyes, then get up and run down the stairs.
“I saw her with tears streaming down her face. I think it’s time to ask for help,” I say. “We need to ask our security team to find her.”
Eden stands up and takes out his cell phone as he walks out the back door to make the call. I look over at Kyle. “She will get over this. She’s really more mad at herself than you,” I enlighten him.
“I doubt that, Al,” he says, sadly.
Eden comes back in. “You won’t believe this.”
“What?” Kyle and I ask at the same time.
“Her car has a tracking device. I should’ve thought about that before, but I didn’t. Anyway, she’s right down the road. You won’t believe where, ” he says.
“Eden, just tell us,” I say.
“Sheriff Hardy’s house,” he tells us.
“How can that be?” I ask.
Kyle stands up. “I’ll go get her. You two stay here.”
“Wait Kyle, one of our security guys works in Austin as a bodyguard for the governor. He’s coming out to take care of the situation,” Eden tells him.
“So we have to wait?” Kyle asks.
“It won’t be long, Kyle,” Eden assures him.
“I’ll make some sweet tea, while we wait,” I say.
“Why would Laura be at the sheriff’s house?” Kyle asks us.
“I have no idea,” Eden answers him.
“We will know shortly, Kyle. Just try to relax until then. I found some chocolate chip cookie dough in the fridge. I’m going to make some cookies. Come help me, Kyle,” I tell him, trying to distract him.
“I guess I should find out where everything is in here. I don’t want Laura to have to do all of the cooking,” Kyle says.
“The cookie sheets should be under the cabinet, Kyle. I’ll pre-heat the oven.”
“I’ll be out back by the pool. I need to call our parents, and let them know how things are going,” Eden tells us and then walks out of the back door.
I finish making the tea, then pour Kyle a glass. “Here, have some tea. It’ll calm your nerves.”
“Thank you, Al. Thanks for understanding. I feel like I’m going crazy, here. I can’t figure anything out about any of this. It makes no sense why Laura would be over there,” Kyle says, as he puts the tray of cookies into the oven.
“I know it’s confusing, to say the least. I mean, why in the hell didn’t the sheriff say anything to me about that?” I ask.
“It doesn’t make any sense at all. I just want it over soon,” he says.
The back door opens and Eden walks in. “He’s here.”
As we walk out the front door, a black suburban drives up. A well- built man wearing a black suit gets out of the car. Eden walks over to him as Kyle and I hang back.
“What do you mean, she’s in jail?” Eden shouts at the bodyguard. Kyle and I look at each other, then get closer so we can hear everything.
“The sheriff said she left here last night, and he happened to be driving down the road on his way home. She pulled out of the gate here and sped down the road in front of him. She appeared to be drunk so he had his deputy who was riding with him take her car to his house, and he took her to jail,” the bodyguard, Jake, tells us.
“I don’t understand why she hasn’t called anyone to tell them that,” I say.
“The sheriff said the judge deemed her a flight risk. She was apparently very hostile towards Sheriff Hardy, hitting him repeatedly. The judge has not set her bail yet. They won’t let her make any calls until that time. They also have her in isolation so she can’t hurt anyone,” Jake says.
“This is ridiculous. We need a lawyer. That Sheriff, a couple of his deputies, and a judge were here last night. They have an idea we’re hiding what the jet was chasing,” Eden says.
“Then she needs to be out of there as soon as possible, before they get her to talk,” Jake tells us.
“She won’t say anything about that. She takes her responsibility seriously. She would never give up any information about them,” Kyle says.
“I am sure she would never deliberately give up any information. Unfortunately, drugs could be used to get the truth out of her,” Jakes says.
“Jesus,” Kyle says, as he begins to pace back and forth.
I look at Eden, then turn to take Kyle back into the house. “Come on, Kyle,” I tell him. “Let’s go back inside. Your cookies are probably done.”
He follows me in. “This is bad, Ally. I just want her back here. What if they drug her? I can’t take that. This is my fault because I’m a mess up.”
“Kyle, stop that. This is no one person’s fault. Blame is not what needs to be done. We need to focus and take care of business. I’m positive we have lawyers who will get her out quickly. Have faith.”
Kyle looks at me, then hugs me tightly. “I love her, Ally. I know it now for sure because this is killing me.”
“I know you do. We’ll get her out,” I tell him.
Eden comes in the front door. “A lawyer is coming to see what he can get done. This is a bad situation with the damn police department as well as the judge being against us. We’ll get her out, though, so don’t worry about that,” he tells us.
“Kyle, turn off the oven, and take out the cookies, then let’s go get her car,” I say.
“Alyssa, I don’ think….,” Eden says.
“I want to see this man,” I say.
Kyle looks at me. “Ally, there’s no way we can let you do that. You could end up in there as well. These are not the people to think you can control.”
“We need to get her car back. That’s all I’m talking about. Let’s go get it,” I say.
***
“Don’t get out of the car, Alyssa,” Eden tells me as we pull up at the sheriff’s house.
I look over at Kyle, who’s sitting right next to me in his tall new truck. “You walk up there with him and don’t get back into this truck until he’s out the driveway,” I order him.
“Yes, mam,” Kyle says.
Then I turn to Eden, who’s sitting on the other side of me. “Picture the dogs in your head, they’ll immediately calm down.”
The minute both Kyle and Eden are out of the truck the front door opens. An older woman is standing at the door, a large German Shepard stands in front of her.
“What do you want?” the lady shouts.
“We’re here to pick up this car. It’s my wife’s,” Kyle tells her.
“That girl ain’t your wife. My husband, the Sherriff, told me that. So, why’d you lie to him?” she asks.
“She is my wife. I don’t know why he would tell you anything different. I just need to pick up the car. I don’t want to upset you or anything,” Kyle says.
“You ain’t upsetting me, boy. You go on ahead and take that car, it ain’t mine. I’ll tell you one thing, though, you’re starting things out all wrong here,” she says.
“I don’t mean to be doing that, mam,” Kyle says, then motions for Eden to take the car.
Eden starts to walk towards the car, the dog standing in front of the lady begins to bark. “He don’t like you,” the lady tells Eden.
I focus on the dog, and he stops barking. Eden continues towards the car, getting in and starting it. He drives past me as he leaves the driveway.
“Thank you, mam,” Kyle says to the lady, then walks back to the truck.
I see the lady lean down and say something to the dog, then it takes off running towards Kyle. She must have given it an attack command. I open the door and jump out, running towards the dog, as Kyle moves quickly towards the truck.
“Get back in the truck, Alyssa,” he yells at me.
I stop, standing perfectly still as the dog stops in front of me, growling and barking. I look up to see the lady has shut the door. I see the curtain pulled back some, I guess so she can see out.