CHAPTER THIRTEEN
“Okay, yes, I’ll hold,” I pause for a moment. “Hello?”
I listen for a few minutes scrunching up my brow. “Okay, I understand. No, it’s fine, it’s fine.”
“Who was that, Aleta?” asks Katelyn leaning forward on her desk seated beside me.
“How crazy,” I say shaking my head. “I guess my grandmother doesn’t know how capable my grandfather still is in his state of mind. He was able to call me and tell me a Detective Wagner came by and took in my grandmother and left him alone in the house. Before he took her out in handcuffs, she yelled for him to get the paper on the kitchen table and call me on the home phone. He still knows how to use a phone, so he’s not that far gone yet. He asked me to help him get my grandmother back home.”
“This is going too far. We have to stop trying to figure this shit out and let the authorities handle it,” she says with her eyes as wide as saucers.
“No, I love it because now I am going to step in on this fucking body in the pool situation and I will help get my grandmother back home. Thank you, Detective Wagner, for making this all happen.”
“Aleta, if the Bartletts are involved and Low is trying to mess you up, there is no limit to how far he will go. You haven’t been around here long enough to witness how they destroy people’s lives.”
“Let the fucker fuck with me. You’ll witness what he gets from this New Yorker.”
“Girl, I can’t keep doing this with you. I’m scared and I’m scared for you and your family. You don’t want to eat with me anymore like we used to, so maybe we shouldn’t hang out as much.”
Katelyn is a chicken?
If I can’t keep her on board, then I will do whatever I have to do for me and my family’s sake.
Why can’t my mother be here to help with this sucky situation?
In reality, they’re her parents, not mine.
◆◆◆
“I’m not going to keep dealing with you,” I sneer. “It’s something how you’ve got Janyce tied around your little finger and the entire school calling you ‘Low’ from your crude behavior around here, but I will not fall for your childish antics.”
My cell phone buzzed as he huffed trying to block my path as I leave the cafe on my way to class.
“I can help you get out of this café work, if…”
“Not now, Lowell,” I bulldoze my way past him and walk to class. “Hello, what?”
The Villery’s found an attorney from Miami to help us with this case. I appreciate the expertise because we have to fight these bastards. I’m being bullied at school, but I refuse to have my grandparent’s lives ruined too.
The attorney explains to me the police knew my grandfather was home the entire time. However, grandmother and Marilyn, the caregiver, were being held on suspicion. They had made a list of the neighbors, starting with a young family of four who lived across the street, who was away on a cruise at the time. There was also a retired military man and his wife who were visiting their son out of state. On the left side of our house, lived the Gunters who my grandfather had wandered over into their backyard on numerous occasions as Mr. Gunter explained to the detective.
I take all of the information in and roll it over in my mind. What does this mean for my grandmother? This could be a nightmare for us, but then he gives me the good news. He can have her released on insufficient evidence to hold her.
“Yeah, I’m glad that’s over.” My face breaks out into a smile and walks into class with my head held just a little bit higher.
CHAPTER FOURTEEN
Inever felt afraid when my mother left me.
I never felt like my life could vanish right before my eyes at the hands of someone else.
I felt anger when my mother left with my grandparents.
I felt sad when she left in the middle of the night.
I felt lonely at being left alone with people I hardly know.
Fear is new to me. I am getting an education on fear from Lowell Bartlett.
I bet my grandmother never knew she sent me to hear to learn all about how fear feels.
My hands attempted to grasp his, but they were trembling too much. My mouth fell open and my breathing quickened. The room began to vibrate with the silence between us and only the sound of my hair swishing back and forth.
I will give in to whatever he is trying to do to me.
I brought up an enormous amount of willpower within me to steady my head in his hands and not let him have full control. I will not be his bobblehead for the day.
My hands continued to tremble as I pushed some stray strands of hair away from my face. I refused to speak so he won’t hear the fear in my voice. If he thinks I will remain afraid of him, he will be wrong.
I don’t trust myself though.
He has all of the control, but I can’t allow him to know it.
Lowell softened his stance, but he became impersonal. He was an evil sadist.
He touched my face and allowed his fingers to rest on my hot cheeks. I could feel them trembling.
Was
