Witness Protection Read online

  He held out a hand to me and gave Megan a nod.

  “Hey, there ladies. Good to meet you. I’m sure that you’re trying not to laugh, but I’ve heard all the jokes about my name. If you think you’ve got a good one then feel free to try it out on me.” He patted Grayson on the back, “I’ve got this. You go on and make sure that little girl is safe at school, all right?”

  Julie lifted her hand in a teasing salute and pulled open the door.

  I needed to make sure that Sally was going to be okay and what the plan for doing that was.

  “You’ll be okay if I run ask Julie a few questions?” I didn’t want to leave Megan if she felt uncomfortable.

  Her thumb went up and I hurried out the door to catch up with Julie.

  “Hey, Officer-I mean, Julie! I called out walking quickly down the hallway.

  “Um, so Mike was outside my apartment last night.” I huffed out when I caught up.

  “It’s not surprising since it looks like planned this pretty thoroughly after he got out of jail yesterday. We’re assuming he has someone helping, which could be anyone here in town. After all, he’s a well-known deputy, so people will believe him when he pleads that he wasn’t trying to hurt his wife.” Julie sighed as we continued toward the parking lot.

  “Yeah, I’m not sure if he was going to try to break in or not. He jiggled the doorknob. I had made sure the house was all locked up because I’d had a weird feeling when we got home. He walked around as I watched from the peephole but left shortly thereafter which is why I didn’t call anyone.” I was super worried I wouldn’t be able to keep Sally safe if Mike wanted to get in and take her.

  “Right now, we’re not going to put anything on the news because we don’t want people to panic. He knows how we operate and with his knowledge and skills, it puts us at a huge disadvantage.”

  She stopped turning to face me. “I’d advise you to go home. Pack a few bags for you and Sally that will last you about a week. We can get you set up in a hotel so that you’re better protected.”

  “I have a few deliveries this afternoon, but then I’m finished for the week. Do you think it’s safe to go back to my apartment?” My brain knew he probably wouldn’t try something in broad daylight, but he had managed to sneak into a hospital just the night before so anything was possible.

  “Honestly, I would do a thorough check of your apartment to make sure it looks normal. It will help you feel safer while you’re there. I don’t see him surfacing today due to the fact we are all on high alert. He knows that he screwed up last night. He’s more likely to be laying low so we don’t find him.” She must have sensed my hesitation because she laid a hand on my arm.

  “Do you have anyone that could go with you or you could call to check on you?”

  I was about to answer no when it dawned on me that I hadn’t told Keith, my Witness Sec contact. He would need to know about the situation I’d gotten into and how dangerous it had become.

  “There is someone that could come over for a bit.” I didn’t want to tell her who because we weren’t supposed to let anyone know we were in the program.

  “Allie, Mike is going to blame you. You’re helping keep Sally away from him and took Megan to the hospital. It does put a target on your back so be careful. If you don’t feel comfortable make sure to call me and I’ll get someone there immediately.”

  “Is Sally safe with me if he’s going to be trying to get revenge on me?”

  “Neither one of you is really safe. She should stay with someone she knows and now that you’re her guardian even if it’s temporary at least she knows you. We can provide security for both of you much easier if you’re in one place rather than two.”

  “All right, I understand. Thank you for keeping us safe.”

  Waving goodbye, I walked over to my car checking the backseat to make sure it was empty before I got inside. It was one of the things I’d picked up from my time with the Marshals when they transferred me.

  “Hey, Keith. I’ve got a problem. Can you meet me at the apartment?”

  “It’s empty.” Keith declared after doing a walk-through of my apartment.

  He was a good-looking man of fifty but was married so he wasn’t available.

  I hovered behind him as he’d walked through checking the closets and under my bed.

  “He was watching you last night? You’re certain?” Keith walked over to test the windows.

  “Yeah, there was someone outside and when I looked they’d moved to try the doorknob. I checked the peephole, but he was walking back to his car by then.” I started to pace the tiny kitchen nervously.

  “The tech guy will come out and install some motion sensors with a camera facing the front and back doors. If he comes back we’ll be able to see it.” He grinned, “Do all of your changing in the bathroom for the next few days.”

  “Ha, that shouldn’t be a problem. I’m not an exhibitionist. Wherever they decide is the safest to keep Sally over the next few days, I’ll be okay there. No one should be in my apartment, but if you get an alert send the police over.”

  I began to collect Sally’s things, but they were scattered all over the place.

  “Well, I think you’re safe for now. If you see anything that doesn’t seem right, call someone immediately. It’s better to be safe than sorry at this point,” he warned. “I’ll be back later with the tech guy. Be very careful, Allie.”

  Taking his advice, I locked the door behind him and started packing my clothes.

  We would need enough stuff to last about a week at least. I didn’t want to be coming back every day and take the chance that he would follow me to the new location.

  Shortly I had our bags were at the front door, but I needed to get the last of my deliveries to my customers. My heart just wasn’t in it.

  There were days when everything was going wrong, but that could change in the blink of an eye when something good happened to balance out the bad. Today wasn’t going to be one of those days for me.

  The phone jarred me out of my depressing thoughts.

  It was a number I didn’t recognize.

  “Hello? May I help you?” I hadn’t been this paranoid since I’d gone into the program three years ago.

  “Yes, are you the Nova Lady?” A woman asked in a professional tone.

  I relaxed as I realized it was a customer.

  “This is she.”

  “Well, I work here at the funeral home. I need to place an order for some nail polish and lipstick.”

  Easily switching into my customer service mode, I began to offer her the special we had that week.

  “The quick-dry nail polishes are on sale, buy one get one free. Did you want to try one of those?”

  “It doesn’t matter if it dries fast, honey. They’re not in any hurry.”

  Her words sunk in and I held my hand over my mouth to keep from laughing.

  They wanted these nail polishes and lipsticks for the dead. When they were made up to be viewed someone had to do their makeup for them.

  “Oh, my goodness! I guess it wouldn’t matter to them now would it?” This was such an unusual request that it had made my day brighter for a moment.

  This could be great for my business. A new customer with a reoccurring order was always a good thing.

  When I’d finished getting her information, I ended the call in a much better mood.

  “Thank you so much, I’ll try to have it for you by the end of next week,” I promised hoping that this nightmare I was living in would be over by then.

  With my spirits much lighter, I took the rest of the deliveries out to the care along with our suitcases. All the while scanning the parking lot to make sure that Mike wasn’t hiding in the bushes somewhere.

  Making the rounds to my customers, I was able to get everything finished up before school let out.

  It wasn’t going to be a stellar day of sales, but at least my customers didn’t have to put up with a grumpy Nova lady bringing them their stuff.

/>   On the way to pick up Sally, I dialed my boss at the Triple T Bar where I worked on the weekends.

  He was going to need a replacement for me this weekend.

  “I don’t like it, Allie.” Trevor groaned at my request. “The customers don’t like it when you’re not here. They come in to see you.”

  “It’s not in my control. I wish I could do something about it, but someone’s got to look out for Sally while her mom recovers. It won’t be for long.”

  “See that it doesn’t. I’ll tell them you had a family emergency and will be back next weekend. Don’t make me a liar.”

  “Yes, sir.” I pulled into the school pick-up lane. “Hey, I’m here to get her now so I’ve got to go.”

  “All right. You be careful.” He cautioned before hanging up. “We’d miss you if you were permanently gone.”

  The pick-up line was busy, and I started to think about what I could do with Sally to keep her occupied for the next few hours.

  As I pulled into the lane, I was a little nervous to see if would go smoothly.

  Sally just opened the door like it was the most normal thing in the world. It was the first time, I’d considered having kids of my own one day.

  “How was your day, kiddo?”

  She shrugged which in kid speak must have meant okay. I began to move out of the school traffic as I asked her my next question.

  “What do you say we go see a movie before we go visit your mother at the hospital?” I watched the rearview mirror to monitor her reaction to the idea.

  “Sure,” her tiny face lit up with a smile. “We never get to go to the movie theater.”

  “Well, today you do, kiddo.” There was always a kid’s movie playing. Probably something with a princess would be the perfect thing to take our minds off things.

  It was an okay movie as far as kid’s movies went. The only thing that had been on at the right time was the anniversary edition which Sally could sing all the songs to.

  Still not wanting to take her to the hospital and answer more questions, I tried to stall by going to get a bit to eat.

  We had to finish up quickly as visiting hours were almost up.

  Not wanting to stay long, I was trying to find a way to protect Sally from what had happened to her mom the night before.

  “Sally,” I began as we got a little closer. “Something happened to your mommy’s voice last night. She hasn’t felt very good today. Her voice is gone, but she has a board to write on. We can’t stay very long. You’ll get to tell her goodnight though.”

  Meeting my eyes in the mirror, I could see that she was trying not to cry.

  “My daddy wanted her to go away, didn’t he?” She wiped at her eyes to keep the tears at bay. “I heard some of the teachers at school talking about why I had to stay in the office during P.E. today.”

  “I thought my daddy loved us. He needs to stop hurting my mommy. I just hate him.” She sniffled while crossing her arms in a defiant gesture.

  Thankful that I could park the car, I unbuckled my seat belt as I turned to face her.

  “Sally, your daddy did hurt your mommy again. Even though he isn’t treating her the right way, it doesn’t mean he doesn’t love you. He’s upset right now and doesn’t know how to deal with it.” I hoped I was explaining things the right way to make her understand what was going on.

  “It’s not a good excuse, but he needs help to get better. He’s confused about what’s right and wrong. We don’t have to like, honey. It’s just not okay to hate him either. All right?”

  She burst into tears and I couldn’t help it, I crawled into the backseat to hold her.

  “I’m sorry I was so bad. I’m sorry that Mommy was bad too. We didn’t mean to be. We can try to do better so Daddy can come back.”

  “Oh, sweetie.” I held onto her as she cried. “It wasn’t your fault. None of this is your fault, sweetheart. It’s not your Mommy’s fault either.”

  The only thing I could do was rock her until the sobbing hiccups quieted so she could hear what I was telling her.

  “Sally, you and your mommy are perfect angels. Something happened to your daddy a long time ago to make him do these bad things.” I hated to make him the bad guy, but he’d done that to himself. His daughter didn’t need to feel this kind of guilt for being a child.

  “There’s nothing wrong with anything you or your mommy have done. I don’t want you to think that it’s true. It’s not. He just wasn’t taught the right way and it makes things seem mixed up in his brain.”

  “Truly?” She looked at me with hope on her face. “Even when I spill my milk or scream because I’m excited?”

  “Even when you do things like that. We all make mistakes.”

  “Can I go see my mommy now?”

  “Sure, sweetie. I know she’s waiting to give you a big hug.” I climbed back into the front seat to grab the keys. “Let’s go see her.”

  Megan was sitting up in the bed, awake when we came into the room.

  We were both surprised when Sally stood back and wouldn’t go up to the bed.

  “What’s wrong?” Megan wrote on the board.

  “I think she’s afraid to hurt you if she comes closer.” I walked over and lowered the side rail to give Megan a hug.

  Sally watched me closely and when nothing happened, she scooted a little closer.

  “After I picked Sally up at school, we went to see a movie and get some dinner.”

  The best thing to do was act as if nothing unusual was going on until Sally decided that she could hug her mom.

  Megan listened to me and wrote another question on the board.

  “Did you like it, Sally?”

  She only nodded in response to her mom but was now standing next to the bed.

  “Tell me what happened?” Megan using her left arm as she awkwardly tried to engage Sally.

  “It was fun. The screen was really big.” She gestured with her hands and climbed up on the bed.

  “I know you love the songs,” The marker squeaked as she wrote the sentence.

  Sally started talking all about her day as Megan rubbed her back and arm in a comforting manner.

  “Officer Stone, do you know about the arrangements for how we’re going to get out of here?”

  He motioned me to the other side of the room before lowering his voice so Sally couldn’t hear.

  “Things should be ready in about thirty minutes. An officer from out of town will meet you at the hotel in case Mike is trying to figure out who is watching out for you.” He glanced toward Megan with a look full of compassion.

  “She seemed more comfortable with Officer Grayson here, so she’ll be back to stay for the night. We don’t believe that Mike will try anything, but we don’t want to take any chances after last night.”

  We just chatted about small stuff to give them a little more privacy and time together until Julie arrived.

  “If you’ll give me your keys, Ms. Foster, I’ll go get your suitcases and bring them in for you.” Officer Stone held out a hand to me.

  “Oh, sure.” It hadn’t dawned on me that we would be leaving in a special manner. The need for secrecy was necessary with Mike still out there on the loose.

  “Sally, give your mom a quick kiss so we can take our ride to the secret hideout.” Julie coaxed. “It will make us invisible to everyone.”

  “No way! Really?” Sally jumped off the bed and then realized she hadn’t kissed her mom goodbye.

  “Later, Mom.” She gave her a quick peck on the cheek.” We’ve got places to go.”

  Megan hurried to write on the board.

  “I love you, honey. Have fun.”

  She blew a kiss at Megan while tapping her foot.

  “Well, are we going or what?”

  I laughed leaning in to whisper to Megan.

  “We’ll take care of her the best I know-how. Make sure that you take care of yourself as well, okay?”

  She nodded toward Julie, who responded. “I’ll take good car
e of her. Don’t worry.”

  With a squeeze to her shoulder, I went to the door where Officer Stone was waiting outside to take us away.

  He led us through a few hallways further into the hospital. If someone was watching, they would have had to be right behind us to know where we were going.

  “Your chariot awaits, m’ladies.” Stone gave us a sweeping bow.

  “What’s a chariot?” Sally pipped up.

  “Um, an old-fashioned type of carriage. It would have a horse that was the engine.” Thinking fast on my feet happened a lot these days with such an inquisitive child around.

  Stone was stifling a laugh behind her back.

  “The chief is hoping this will make it more difficult to follow you to your new destination.” He gestured toward the ambulance. “What do you think, Sally?”

  “It’s okay, but how are we invisible?” She hopped up into the back and began to look around.

  “There aren’t any windows on the sides. We’re going to have you put these shirts on so anyone looking through the back won’t be able to see who you are,” Stone explained with a great deal of patience.

  “I guess it’ll do.” She tilted her head as if still undecided. “I was looking for something closer to fairy dust, or invisible ink for our bodies.”

  Biting my lip, I climbed in behind her as Stone handed us the EMS shirts to put on.

  “When will you put on the sirens?” Her eyes darted around looking at everything in excitement. “How do you keep things from falling on us? Where’s the blood kept?”

  Her questions came in rapid-fire succession, and it was all we could do to keep up with her.

  Stone and the EMS driver were visibly relieved when we arrived at our destination thirty minutes later in the neighboring town.

  I had no idea how Megan could put up with energy daily. It had only been two days and I was mentally exhausted.

  Bypassing the lobby, Stone escorted us to the elevator leading to the rooms with our suitcases.

  He knocked at room 205 and we waited for the new officer to open the door.

  A sense of déjà vu followed me as I thought back to the officers that had taken me from my apartment three years ago.