Girl Jacked (6 page)

She thinks I forgot about the town. She thinks I forgot about them. I didn’t. I’m just remembering too much.

Hennessey’s, the little Bait and Tackle, Bob’s Coffee and the old candy store. It was almost all the same, yet everything had changed.

He turned down the familiar road.

“This is it. Right here is fine.” Replacement’s hand was on the door handle as he pulled over.

“Here,” She handed him a folded piece of paper. “Read it when you get home.” She hopped out and ran up into an apartment building without a backward glance.

Jack unfolded the note written in a delicate script on a piece of scrap paper. CHECK THE STOVE. TY FOR HELPING.

No signature
.

He still didn’t know her name, and he forgot to try to get it from her.

Check the stove? What the hell does that mean?

He floored it and broke the speed limit all the way home.

Jack stood in the hallway and let the door of his apartment swing open. He was relieved that he didn’t smell gas. Even so, he was glad the light from the hallway and windows gave him enough to see by. He wasn’t going to risk switching anything on.

Damn!

Someone had turned the place over, or that’s what it looked like at first. Then he noticed what was missing. The pattern of destruction meant Gina had come back.

Now she is gone for good.

Jack could see that she had worked the place over. The worst of it was in the bedroom.

No bedding. The pillows, sheets and the super warm comforter were all gone.

She had pulled all the drawers out and strewn their contents across the floor. Jack figured there would be a message in the bathroom, and he was right. It was now past the odd stage that this had happened to him before and moved into the chronically weird category. It was at least the third time a girl had left him a message scrawled across his bathroom mirror.

He looked at the message written in red lipstick in massive letters scribbled across the mirror, ‘YOU SUCK!!!’

She didn’t make a little smiley face out of the periods on the bottom of the exclamation marks. Erin had done that. Erin had a little more class.

His gun and important papers were in the safe, so he knew they were secure. He stood looking into the kitchen, across the broken plates littering the floor.

The stove! Replacement’s note!
Jack swallowed.
What did she do?

What remained of the shattered plates crunched under his feet. He approached the stove with almost the same trepidation as opening a door when clearing a room with SWAT.

All of the dials on the stove were turned off. He did not smell gas but the black glass of the oven door seemed extra dark. He looked and could see there was something in the oven. The light had never worked so after a moment’s hesitation, he yanked open the door.

Stuffed inside the oven was a large green trash bag.
He pulled the bag out and set it on the counter. When he looked inside, he laughed out loud.

It was the super warm comforter and his pillow! Jack smiled.

Replacement, you're a clever kid.

He removed both items and brought them to the bedroom. He’d have to thank her later.

When he remembered that he had to go to work, he grumbled. All he wanted to do was have one drink… or four. Instead, he headed over to his computer and began searching his email. Jack didn’t keep many emails so it was easy to find.

Victor Rodriguez. He met him four months ago at the TEVOC training and the two got along. Victor was on the police force out in Sonoma, California. It was two towns over from Western Tech, but Jack knew that Victor would check it out for him. As he finished typing the email, he thought of one detail he didn’t have and he groaned as if someone had squeezed his heart. He put his head in his hands and rubbed his face.

A picture. I don’t have a current picture of her. Some brother I am.

He took a quick half-hour nap.

The glamorous life of a cop.

Jack dressed and headed out the door. He had a love – hate relationship with the police station. Part of him loved going to the new, sprawling two-story building with rows of police cars parked out in front. Power seemed to surge into his muscles as he walked the halls. Another part of him hated it. There were times when he couldn’t stand the place because of all the people whose lives seemed to be broken apart there.

Jack would walk the same hallways and stare into the face of someone just arrested. Their eyes conveyed that they knew the life they had known would never return. Some days a victim would glance up, their eyes communicating their pain. That anguish would sear itself into his mind.

He checked into the station, picked up his car, and went straight out.

Today was a day when he hated it. Patrol Day. Sheriff Collins had received a call from the County Commissioner’s Office asking how often a marked cruiser patrolled the homes that lie on the edge of the county. One call and now every week, some lucky stiff has to drive in a gigantic circle around the whole county. Today, Jack was the lucky stiff.

Boring. Very, very boring.

Today wasn’t what Jack wanted when he decided to become a cop. He figured that after the army, he would be a cop for two years while he finished active duty. Then he would go for something more exciting like the FBI or the CIA, but he kept putting that off. The problem was with his training.

After September 11th, money poured in for police training. At his last job, he took every class he could but he had to fight with all the other cops for a spot.

Training was the main reason he had transferred to Darrington. Jack had no idea how Sheriff Collins did it, but the police department’s training budget was a well that wouldn’t run dry. When Jack contemplated taking the job, another cop told him that no matter how many classes he signed up for, they would all be approved. Collins initially hesitated about letting Jack take so much training. He said he wanted to give everyone a chance, but it soon became clear that the only one who wanted that chance was Jack. The other cops here were either too busy or nowhere near as ambitious. When Collins realized that those funds would go to waste, he approved almost every course Jack wanted.

Ever since Jack had joined the army he had started taking specialized classes in everything from terrorism to profiling, high-speed pursuit to sniper training; he just couldn’t get enough. Now that he had transferred to Darrington, it was even better. It made the down times bearable. Jack could learn how to wiretap, conduct electronic surveillance, survive in the wilderness, or get TEVOC driver training.

The list of classes he planned to take went on and on. He loved it. To top it all off, he was paid to do it! He felt like a thief.

Who in their right mind would pay me to learn to fly a drone?

The vehicle in front of him slowed to a crawl because a police car was following.

Jack caused most of the complications in his own life. He was a master artisan for creating problems with his two main vices, women, and booze. His adoptive mother always warned him about both and still nagged him about it today.

He missed his mom and dad. A few years back, his adoptive father had gotten a blood clot, so the doctor thought it would be beneficial to thin out his blood. She and his father moved to Florida. He hadn’t been down to visit in long while, but kept planning to go soon.

 They were both older, and every time he saw them, they seemed to be aging faster. They had tried and tried to have kids of their own, but couldn’t so they decided to adopt. He was fortunate that at eleven a good couple like them chose him. Typically, they all went for babies. Kids his age didn’t end up with the pick-of-the-litter parents.

How stupid kids can be.
He thought.
How stupid I was
.

He still felt guilt over his actions during his homecoming from Aunt Haddie’s. Here, two of the nicest people on the planet had brought him into their home, and he had acted like a jerk. They had come to Aunt Haddie’s to pick him up, and he’d run crying out into the woods.

Chandler was the one who found him. Jack had grabbed his hand and tried to pull him further away, but Chandler just stood there. Even as a kid, Chandler was a giant. Jack could have run into him, but if Chandler didn’t want to move, he wasn’t moving.

“We gotta run, Chandler!”

Chandler slapped him in the face, and the blow knocked him down.

“Jack, this is YOUR chance.”

“But, we need to stay together!” Jack pleaded.

Chandler sat down on the ground next to him. “I’m not going anywhere. Aunt Haddie will take good care of Michelle and me. You got a chance for a mom and dad. We had them once, you should get that too.” He grabbed him by the arm and started helping him up.

“Chandler…” Jack knew he was right, but it still hurt.

When he got back to Aunt Haddie’s, his new parents waited by her side. This time he asked them if he would be able to come back and see Aunt Haddie, Chandler, and Michelle. His new mom promised that he could.

They kept that promise. Back and forth they would go, mostly Chandler and him and his father. Fishing, baseball, and lots of other stuff, together.

His parents had gone to Chandler’s funeral. Jack wasn’t there. He had been on the other end putting the coffin on the plane.

It was starting to lightly snow. The car in front of him slowed down even more.

This is going to be a long shift.

Jack passed by Mrs. Stevens’ door on tiptoes.

Damn, I forgot to pick up her appeasement present.

He made another mental note to pick something up and headed upstairs. As he turned the corner of the stairs, he stopped dead. A light was coming from under his door.

His apartment door was solid wood, but there was a good half-inch gap underneath it and light now streamed out. Gina wanted to get him one of the door sock things because the apartment was always drafty, but he thought that getting one was way too domestic for him. He was now glad he didn’t because he could see that someone was inside.

Gina? No, she was gone.

He thought about who could have a key to his apartment and that was a long list.

He knew that security wise, it was beyond stupid, but girls seemed to relax if you gave them a key and Jack wanted to keep ‘
the girls happy’
. He shook his head at his weakness.

He unsnapped his holster and opened the door. There was no sound coming from inside the apartment. When he looked into the kitchen, he knew something was terribly wrong. It was clean.

 The list of someone who would come into his apartment and clean was short. There was only one name – Mom. She must have flown up to surprise him.

“Mom?” he called out as he trudged into his living room.

“Awkward!” Replacement sang the word as she walked out of the bedroom. She had a towel wrapped around her body and was drying her hair with another one. She held onto the doorframe and arched her back, striking a comically seductive pose. “I’m not your mommy!” She batted her eyes.

“Hey! Don’t do that.” Jack took a step back and turned away. “What are you doing here? I dropped you back off at your own apartment.”

He emptied the contents of his pockets on to the counter. He knew this habit drove the girls crazy.

“Hey! I just cleaned that!”

“Good thing you’re not my mommy!” Jack shot back with a slight grin. His mouth fell open a few seconds later when he opened the refrigerator and saw the sub. “How did you get in?”

“For a cop I’m surprised you would keep a key under the rug.” She rolled her eyes and made a face. “It’s the most obvious place to look.”

Gina!

Jack cursed under his breath.

“Are you ready?” Replacement asked as she walked over to his desk.

My desk!

The workspace in the corner of the living room was immaculate. Jack could now see the wooden desk. The top was empty except for his desktop computer, a laptop he didn’t recognize, a photograph, a stack of papers and a notebook.

“Do you have obsessive-compulsive disorder?”

He walked over and picked up the photo. It was of Michelle. She had changed so much. Gone was the awkward little girl who loved to wear mismatched socks. The beautiful woman who sat on the hood of the blue Civic had the same bright smile, the same dark brown eyes, but that was where the physical similarities ended.

She seemed confident and full of life. She seemed happy.

Happy
.

If Jack had one word to describe Michelle, he would choose happy. When they were growing up, he thought she was cheerful all the time just because she was a little kid. He stopped thinking that when she broke her leg. They were sledding, and Michelle hit a tree. Aunt Haddie was beside herself when she got to the hospital. Chandler and Jack thought they would get it when she came in. Michelle saved them from a big spanking because she lit up as if it was the best day in her life.

“Aunt Haddie, we had a great time sledding, except for my leg, but Chandler and Jack pulled me all the way to downtown!” She beamed as the older woman raced into the room. “I got to ride in an ambulance! I’ve never been in a hospital, and the nurses are
so
pretty. Maybe I could…” and on and on she went. That was what Michelle truly was… happy.

Guilt washed over him as he looked at the picture. She had matured into a beautiful woman, and he had missed seeing her grow up. He wanted to hug her. He wanted to ask her why she was so happy then. He wanted…

Want... wish… They were about equal. Both the words came to the same thing though; wishes never happen.

“Jack.” Replacement’s hand was soft on his arm. He was starting to grip the photo too hard, and it was crumbling in his hands. “I thought you might need a photo to show around.” There was concern in her voice and in her eyes.

Smart kid.

He turned the photo over. It was printed on photo paper on a home printer. “How old is the picture and where did you print it?” he asked.

“Three months ago at the nursing home,” she answered with a crisp military tone. Jack couldn’t tell if she was mocking him or trying to be serious. “Terry at Well’s Meadow, that’s the home Aunt Haddie is in, he printed it out after Michelle emailed it to her.”

“Aunt Haddie’s in a home?”

Replacement paused. “Sorry, she got real old and… she started forgetting things. The doctors said it is early Alzheimer's. Michelle got her into a nice treatment center.”

“Why didn’t–”

“I don’t want to talk about Aunt Haddie.” She folded her arms across her chest.

Jack hated to admit it, but he didn’t either. It hurt too much.

“Do you have an electronic copy? I want to email it to a cop I know in California.”

“She didn’t go there!” Replacement protested.

“Humor me, okay?”

“I already scanned it and put it on your desktop.”

“How?”

“There.” She pointed.

“That’s my printer.” Jack’s lip curled.

“It’s a scanner too.” Replacement turned but Jack could see her smirk in the monitor but it vanished. “I printed out some missing person flyers and put some out. You didn’t have much paper.”

Jack stopped and looked at the small stack of papers on the desk.

“Good job. We can print out some more.” Jack sat down and pulled up his email. “I want to get that picture out.”

Replacement walked into the kitchen as he emailed Victor the photo.

“If she went to California then fine but if she didn’t we need to rule it out,” Jack tried to explain.

“She didn’t. See, I ruled it out!” Replacement snapped but quickly added, “You’re right, sorry.”

“Can you pick up some more paper for the flyers?”

Replacement was silent so Jack looked back into the kitchen.

Her mouth open and closed but she nodded. “Sure.”

He turned back to the computer.

Why would she be freaked out about picking up paper? Paper is… expensive.

“Use this, okay?”

Replacement’s jacket was on the back of the chair. Jack took the cash out of his wallet and put it in her pocket.

“Don’t do that. I’m fine… I have plenty of money.” She rushed back over.

“Don’t argue with me about money, kid. I’m Italian. It’s part of our customs.”

“Really?”

“I’ve got no idea what I am. I’m adopted, but I sort of look Italian and it sounds cool when I say it.” He shrugged. “Besides, I’m not asking,
capisce
?” He tried his best godfather impersonation.

She grinned. “I thought you knew your parents. Aunt Haddie said you came there when you were seven.”

“I knew my… birth mother. I have no idea about my… the... guy. She never talked about him.”

“Are they alive?”

Jack shrugged. “They could be.”

“They could be? Why didn’t you go find them?”

Jack could tell that Replacement was trying not to make a face, but the result was an expression that looked like she drank a straight shot of unsweetened lemonade.

“What for? What would I ask them? Why did you get rid of me? I don’t want to know. I don’t care.” He shrugged his shoulders.

“Not even a little?”

“Well… trying to figure out why she left me on my birthday… it made me a little crazy so I stopped doing it.”

Replacement’s mouth dropped open. “It happened on your birthday!?!”

“Don’t get so dramatic kid. It wasn’t my
real
birthday. I don’t even know when that is. That’s the date they wrote on the form.”

“They just pick it?” She sat on the couch.

Jack nodded. “Anyway, it happened.”

She walked around to the side of the desk and stared him. “What happened? I mean how did… uh… she do…?”

Jack tried to keep his eyes on the computer but she just kept watching him. Maybe it was the innocent look on her face or because he was so worried about Michelle but he opened up.

“We were in a bus depot. She said we were going to Vegas. I had no clue where that was. She came back with two tickets. When she started to hand me my ticket she froze.”

He looked off into the distance, detached from the story he was conveying.

“She just stared at me. She always looked at me weird anyway. It was like a mixture of love and hate. A real ying-yang thing.”

Replacement leaned against the desk.

“She just straightened up and said; ‘You got needs, kid. School, friends, crap like that. This is best.’ Then she turned around and went to the bus.”

“What did you do?”

“I flipped out. I ran after her begging. I grabbed onto her and… she just backhanded me. I didn’t know about drugs then but I knew there were times when she was just out of it. I thought it was one of those times.”

He squinted as if he was trying to see a detail that was just out of sight. “She wore these super big heels and she was wobbling.” He stared down at the floor. "She just turned around and said. “‘You don’t know jack, kid.’”

Replacement stared at him. “Then she just up and left?”

He nodded. “That was the last thing she ever said to me.”

“You were left in the middle of a bus station?” Replacement’s eyes were huge.

“Not exactly the middle. I was sort of to the right–”

She smacked his shoulder. “You know what I mean. What did you do?”

“I did what every seven year old would do if they got dumped in a bus depot at night.”

“You cried?”

“I got caught stealing a pocket book,” Jack laughed.

“Really?”

“Yeah. I stole it so I could get enough money to get a ticket to go with her. Anyway, I got pinched and then the whirlwind into the system began. Police station, youth services, counselors, court, lawyer… I never had so much attention in my life, and I hated it. No one talks to a whore’s kid, but now everyone was asking me questions. I was seven but…” Jack raised his head. “What about you, kid?”

“I… I don’t like to talk about it.” She wrapped her arms around her chest and crossed her legs.

“That’s fair. Here I am baring my soul and…”

Replacement’s lip began to quiver.

“Sorry.” He held both hands up. “I shouldn’t have butt in.” Jack moved to the window and looked out into the darkness.

Replacement shuffled over and sat down.

Jack watched one lone car drive down the street. After a few minutes, he turned and nodded toward the photo. At the bottom was a printed title ‘Check out my new ride!!’ “Who added the title?”

“I guess Michelle?” Replacement shrugged.

“Is that her car?”

“She got it when Aunt Haddie stopped driving.”

A wave of guilt washed over Jack again, and he tried to forget how he had left the old woman to fend for herself.

“Okay. Then the picture is a couple of years old. How often did she call?”

“She called all the time, almost every day.”

“When was the last call?”

“Look. I wrote it up.” She grabbed the calendar off the desk and flipped the pages back twice. “She called Aunt Haddie but the calls stopped on the eighteenth. She was supposed to come home December 21, Saturday evening. We called her Sunday thinking that maybe she just hadn’t left yet but she never called back. By Monday morning, we both freaked out and started calling the college campus police. They got back to us and said she transferred. I knew that was garbage, so we called the police.”

“When was that?” Jack was making notes too.

“December 23.” She pointed to the calendar. “I went to the Fairfield Sheriff’s Department that afternoon and after an hour of filling out the missing person report; they said I couldn’t because I’m not her ‘real’ sister. I said that was bull, and he sucks, and I asked if I could talk to a real cop.”

“Hold up. Which officer were you speaking with?”

“I don’t know. Officer Jerk Bag. Some creep. He says I have to be blood related. I told him that she didn’t have any blood relations living so how was that going to work? He said he needed blood for the report, and I offered to show him blood, and then they asked
me
to leave!” She looked genuinely surprised.

“A nurse called and explained that Aunt Haddie was too ill to come to the police station so another cop was sent out and took the report from her. We kept calling. The cops just kept blowing us off, telling us to wait. We didn’t know what else to do. Then Aunt Haddie said to track you down.” She looked up expectantly.