Dreamers (The Dreamers Series) (21 page)

The line rings a single time before a dispatcher answers calmly. Heather snatches my phone from me, throwing it with brute force into the wall before I can even get a word out. It smashes easily into a hundred pieces, leaving me stranded with zero communication.

“Sit the fuck down, Sydney.” Her glare tells me not to argue. She isn’t messing around.

I plant myself into the plush couch cushion, eyes darting around the room for something to swing with in case she decides to try something. While she’s never seemed the violent type, I have no way of knowing what type of risk I’ve put myself in simply by figuring out her connection to Peyton and Nick. I don’t know much more than I did a few hours ago. I still have no idea what they did or even why. All I’ve managed to pinpoint is that Heather is covering for her mother’s misgivings with Nick. Why though? Is she being blackmailed by her mother, or possibly feels trapped by family loyalty? She won’t tell me anything so I’m left to assume there are sinister forces behind her silence.

“Heather, tell me the truth,” I beg.

She sighs loudly, inhaling deeply. Just as she finally relents and begins to speak, the doorbell rings, interrupting us.

“Don’t answer it, Heather. Whoever it is can come back later. Talk to me, please.”

The bell ringing becomes more insistent, followed by loud banging on the wooden door.

“Atlanta PD, open the door!” a bolstering, manly voice demands.

Heather rushes to the door, opening it swiftly before the large city cops can bust it down.

“Come in, guys,” she says calmly.

Why is she so calm now? Putting on a front like everything is okay here so they will leave unsuspectingly? Now would be my moment to do something. I have to say something before they leave.

“I called you here, officers,” I speak loudly as they enter. “She took my phone from me and threw it across the room.” I point to the remains on the floor.

“Officer Grayson, do you have anything you would like to add? Why did you destroy this lady’s phone?”

Officer Grayson? They must be confused.

“Her name is Heather Grayson; she’s my roommate. She’s not a police officer,” I comment.

Heather closes her eyes and sighs quietly as it finally begins to sink in. Heather is a police officer. This couldn’t be any more confusing as I don’t know what the hell to think of this final revelation.

The situation is uncomfortable as Heather is clearly the outcast among these large corn-fed policeman. The ring leader of the pack shoots Heather a smirk as he begins a verbal attack against her to his fellow colleagues.

“You hear that, boys? She
IS
her roommate.” They all begin laughing as Heather’s face turns deep crimson. “Grayson, isn’t this the girl from the picture on your desk? The one you told us was your girlfriend?”

“You guys, it was just a misdial. We’re fine here; you can go now,” she whispers quietly.

“I don’t know, it seems your
ROOMMATE
has a complaint to make? She hung up on the emergency operators,” the balding officer taunts a humiliated Heather.

I stand astonished at what I’m witnessing. As upset as I am with Heather right now and as betrayed as I feel, I cannot let these men mock and torment her this way. How dare they be so cruel? If I listen to one more word, I will surely be escorted to a cell after knocking this man’s face off.

“Hey, asshole, I AM her girlfriend, actually. I didn’t mean to call you guys out here; we were having a spat and I was acting childish. It won’t happen again. Now leave.” I walk to Heather’s side, creating an allegiance.

“Well, make sure it doesn’t happen again. Next time we will charge a hundred dollar fine,” he warns.

“Noted.” I close the door behind them.

I turn to face her, crossing my arms over my chest. “Well,
Officer Grayson
, you have some explaining to do.”

“I guess I do,” she simply replies.

***

“When I got back from Julliard, I had trouble finding a job. Mother had me covered financially; she made plenty of money. We had a brilliant idea to buy this apartment complex when it was about to go into foreclosure. We started renting the apartments out for a pretty penny because Atlantic Station quickly became the place to live. I make enough money to retire as it stands right now. With tons of money and nothing to do, I decided to go back to school. I started taking forensic science, just as a hobby really. I really fell in love with it and decided to attend the academy and become an officer. I didn’t tell anyone just in case I didn’t make it through the training—it can be pretty brutal. It just would have been one more embarrassment to fail at that too, just like every other thing in my life. It’s a hard field for a woman to begin with. I made it though, somehow. With my forensic knowledge, I went straight into the homicide unit as a rookie detective.”

“If you are an enforcer of the law, why would you even consider covering for your mother?” I ask the obvious question.

“You don’t know the story behind the Manning case,” she says as she pulls at her shirt to remove a wrinkle.

“Well, inform me then. This is your last chance to come clean. I’m done with the lies, Heather. Enough is enough.”

“I’m still active in this case, Syd. I can’t tell you everything,” she admits.

“I understand that, and I would have understood better to begin with if you had you just told me.”

“I couldn’t tell anybody. This is an off-the-books kind of investigation. I had insight to it before it ever hit the PD. My mother breeched confidentiality and pulled me into this mess. I’ve continued an investigation against my department policy. We are both screwed if someone finds out.”

While this puzzle seems to grow larger by the day, I am beginning to realize why her silence was necessary. Still, I can’t see hiding something like this—no matter the reason.

“Is a career worth more than Dominick’s life? I realize he’s dead already and we can’t literally save him, but he’s trapped. You can’t cover for her anymore. You already said you have enough money to live off forever. Damn your career. Do the right thing. You’re good—so good. This isn’t you.”

“My reasoning is genuine, Sydney. Please believe that. Unfortunately, my mother and I will be facing more than a loss of our careers.”

“Why?”

“She took it too far and I can’t bail her out. When she goes down, I fall with her—criminally.”

“Tell me what she did to him. I’ll keep my mouth shut. We can quietly resolve this to where I can cushion you and save Dominick’s soul at the same time. I want to know everything. From the beginning, how did your mother get involved with Nick? And no lies.”

She sighs, resolving to the fact that I won’t take no for an answer anymore.

“Not a word, to anyone, okay? Especially Dominick,” she firmly states.

“If it’s for his safety and his wellbeing, I won’t say a word until the time is right. You have my word,” I vow.

“From the beginning… My mother was a criminal psychiatrist at the precinct. She worked with inmates scheduled for upcoming release. Her job was primarily to prepare people to exist in the outside world after being locked up for extended periods of time. That’s when she encountered Nathan Manning. Does the name sound familiar?”

“Not other than the last name,” I admit.

“He’s Dominick and Cayden’s father,” she whispers with an edge to her voice.

“Nick’s dad is in jail? What for?” I’m shocked as I never even heard his dad mentioned prior to this.

“
WAS
in jail, Sydney. He was convicted of a number of things, including the attempted murder of Mrs. Manning while she was pregnant with Cayden and Dominick. Nathan was, and still is, extremely unstable. He has mental problems, bipolar, and a severe form of dementia. He nearly killed Nick’s mom and the babies as well. He was sentenced to fifty years in prison with the possibility of parole after half time served: twenty-five years.”

“Which would have put him up for release around two years ago, when Nick disappeared?” I place a puzzle piece on the timeline.

“Precisely then.”

“Why would they release someone who tried to kill his wife and unborn children? Why would someone—even someone crazy—do such a thing?” I ask appalled.

“His case was rare around the time; the courts weren’t really sure what the punishment should be for a mentally unstable person. It was more of a matter of whether he knowingly committed the crime—which he did. It was pretty crazy shit actually. It seems he had a little of the same gift as your Dominick, but it was onset by post-traumatic stress, or so my mother thought. He had just returned from war and had witnessed some pretty radical shit. His mental health began deteriorating quickly. Nick and Cayden’s mother became pregnant shortly after his return. He swore he could hear the baby from the womb. Everyone thought he was crazy, and probably was. But knowing now what I do about Nick, he was probably telling the truth. There is some kind of gift in that family. Whatever the case, the voices drove him insane. He thought the child was unholy, an abomination—supernatural. He thought the child was sent by the devil. He tried to cut the baby out when Mrs. Manning was around eight months pregnant. A neighbor heard her screams and alerted the police. They got there in the nick of time. Mrs. Manning barely pulled through, and the babies were in NICU for weeks. The scalpel Nathan used actually went clear across Dominick’s scalp—hence the wild hair. I noticed it grows funny now,” she added.

“Strange observation from only a few meetings with Nick,” I blurt out.

“It’s my job to be observant. Anyway, would you like me to finish?”

“Yes. I’ll stop interrupting.”

“That’s what brings us to now. He went up for parole a couple of years ago. My mother was assigned Nathan Manning’s evaluation. She gave a suggestion that he not be released—ever. The court disagreed, listening to the opinion of the defense psychologist, and he was released.”

“Did he know Nick and Cayden survived the attack?”

“I’m getting to that. One of the conditions of his parole was to receive ongoing weekly mental treatment for the course of three years. My mother’s job was done, she had completed her evaluation and he was free from the prison system, but the law allows collaboration between mental and behavioral professionals. When she received a call from Jimmy Michaels, his current psychiatrist, she learned that he was responding well to treatment and was searching for information on the burial sites for his wife and his child so he could say goodbye and begin the healing process. He hired a private investigator and found out pretty easily that his wife had survived the attack. He also found Dominick. Dominick had been on record several times as a runaway and a few other minor run-ins with the law so it made him very easy to trace. According to Jimmy Michaels, he is now aware of the fact that the babies were twins. He is on to Cayden too.” She watches me warily.

“If he’s been reformed, then he isn’t a threat to either of them, right? Is Cayden aware of all this?”

“Sydney, my mother is the best of the best; you saw yourself how quickly she had you figured out. She knew Nathan Manning to the core, and he will never let this go. Twenty-five years ago he set out to eliminate the child he thought was sent of the devil. He will not rest until the job is done.”

“Did he get to Dominick?” I ask, chewing my nails to the quick.

“Mother got to Nick first. She broke a lot of rules trying to protect him, and now she will be facing criminal charges if someone finds out what she did—and so will I. It didn’t work out the way we thought it would. Everything got fucked up and turned into a flaming disaster. She never meant to hurt him, Sydney. I swear she didn’t. Please trust me on that.” She buries her head in her hands.

My eyes clog with tears, wondering what happened to my poor Dominick. I couldn’t bear to hear the details of the pain he must have gone through.

“Was he in pain, Heather?” I wince as I wait for the answer.

“No, honey. Please don’t cry.” She gently touches my hand, offering her support.

“I really don’t want to know exactly what she did to him, but I need to know why, if it was an accident, she won’t come clean and release Dominick back to his family for a proper burial. His mother is dead and gone, but Cayden needs closure and he needs to know he has a psycho after him. Heather, he is with Mia. He’s been to her home with my nephews. You’re exposing them to danger by doing nothing.” I’m suddenly terrified.

“I have people watching them, Syd. I have a couple of colleagues working this off the books as a personal favor to me. My mother also has some inside connections. She cashed in a favor or two with some ex-cons she got paroled.”

“Yeah, that’s comforting that you have criminals watching my sister and Cayden.”

“These aren’t hardened criminals; they’re reformed. My mother wouldn’t use them otherwise. She’s a good woman; she just makes dumb choices with her heart sometimes.”

“In the process of
protecting
Nick she also took advantage of him. I haven’t forgotten that part.”

“You really think my mother would be interested in the likes of Dominick Manning? That’s hilarious. It was a ruse. We needed to get the family all riled up in preparation for his disappearance. His mother was in on it. We needed the people closest to him to think he took off. His sessions with my mother were a very close family secret. We kept it that way for a reason. My mother approached Mrs. Manning when she found out Nathan was searching for them. They used my mother’s profession as an excuse to begin seeing Nick. She never really treated him; she would usually just hypnotize him for the session and wake him up with some off-the-wall story about what she was doing.”

“Why act as if he was a patient then? What was the purpose?”

“His mother wanted to establish trust between my mother and Nick, just in case they needed to throw him into hiding if Nathan showed up. We were trying to reduce resistance from Nick. He never would have just gone into hiding because we said so. They deliberately told Cayden very little; Mrs. Manning was very adamant that she didn’t want him to know about his father. So we hatched a half-baked plan, which obviously backfired.”