Possessed Soul

Chapter 56

Chapter 56

Grace had kindly allowed me to use the computer in her office. This was the one room in the house that wasn't decorated with flowers. Shelves of books lined the walls of the office, making it seem like a personal library. There was a layer of dust on the desk, and when I swiped my finger across it to get rid of the dust, a new layer automatically settled back down on the desk.

Grace had left me alone, while she went back downstairs. I could hear her moving things around, cutlery bumped against each other, chairs squeaked as they were dragged on the tiles and there was an instance when I heard her break something made out of glass or ceramic.

Against my better judgment I had left Ryan with Sage. I wondered if she would tell him about her mother, or if I was the only person she was willing to share that with. It seemed like she was keeping Ryan in the dark, as if she was afraid that if she told him everything it would influence the way he felt about her. I couldn't blame her for worrying. Any sane person would turn her over to the police when they were told about her murders. This only confirmed that I wasn't sane. Apart from my loving Sage, there was something else that kept me from having her arrested: it was the nagging feeling that something wasn't quite right. Something much deeper was going on. Something that none of us would be able to fathom.

I pondered this and drummed my fingers on the table, while I waited for the Google page to load. I had typed the address in word for word, but the computer was taking a while to process it.

After a couple of minutes, a picture of a tall white building with a glass domed roof appeared. I read the caption underneath the photo and learned that this place was the FBI's Croydon Compound.

***

"Does this mean the FBI is looking for my mother?" Sage queried, after I told her about my findings.

It had taken a while to remove Ryan from her side, to the point where I was about to grab him by the collar and throw him out myself. He eventually left when Sage threatened that she'd break up with him if he didn't go out. He hung his head and walked out, going so far as to shut the door.

"I don't think so," I said in response to her question. She gave me a questioning look, making me remember that I hadn't yet told her about the visit I had paid to her house.

"I think that the FBI already has your mother," I continued. I grimaced and closed my eyes, giving her time to react without the pressure of me assessing her reaction.

"Are you sure?" I don't think I had ever heard her sound so small and deflated before. I missed the optimistic part of her, but I knew that everything that had happened had changed her beyond recognition.

I nodded. "I don't think she'd have been able to escape." I wanted to tell her that Angela had put up a fight before she allowed the FBI to take her, but that would probably make Sage feel worse. "If they were looking for her wouldn't they give a phone number instead of an address? It would have been easier for them." I added.

"So...?" She waited for me tell her exactly what I was thinking. I sighed. How would I explain this without scaring her too much?

"It's a message." I tried to keep my explanation simple, but after these three words had left my mouth, I knew it wouldn't be enough, so I carried on. "For you. They want to lure you in by using your mother as bait."

"How do you know that?" she questioned, nervously gnawing on her bottom lip. When she released her lip it was red and swollen, practically begging to be kissed.

"I don't," I responded, with a shrug. "I'm just assuming that's the case. It's just a theory."

"A very detailed theory," she mumbled. I wasn't sure if she was talking to me, or if she hadn't meant to say this out loud.

"I was raised by a con artist," I smirked. "I know how to read between the lines, and I can tell when someone is trying to manipulate me."

"What are we going to do?" She asked as she sunk down and leaned against the wall and breathed heavily.

I wanted to suggest that sitting on the bed might be more comfortable for her, but her face was twisted into an unreadable expression. I recognised the stubbornness in the set of her jaw and knew she was giving her full attention to thinking about the issue with her mother.

"What do you want to do?" I thought it better to let her make the decisions, since it was her mother's life in question.

"I want to find my mother," she responded, with no hesitation.

I nodded understandingly. "I'll go to the compound."

"No," she protested, her voice laced with anxiety. "They want me to go."

"Which is exactly why you shouldn't go."

"You don't even know what to do once you're there," she said, impatiently.

"Rescue your mother," I said, matter-of-factly.

"How?"

"Like you have some expert plan." I rolled my eyes, not having a good enough answer for her question.

"Turn myself in for her." She trembled, as if a cold shiver had shot up her spine.

I surveyed her and wondered why she'd say something like this, especially since she knew there was no way I'd let her go through with it. Did she want me to talk her out of it? Or was she slowly beginning to believe that choosing Ryan was causing my love for her to falter? It was more likely the former, since if I wasn't in love with her anymore, why would I be here with her, making promises?

I repositioned my limbs, so that my legs stuck out on either side of me, almost as if I was caging her in. "I'm not losing you. Stay here. I'll do everything I can to save your mother," I promised her.

"If you don't take me with you, I'm just going to follow you out," she threatened. I would have laughed at her audacity to threaten me, if the situation wasn't so serious. "I need to find my mother. It needs to be me. It was my fault she was taken," she blurted out. "And I need answers. I think the FBI know about my poisonous blood and my..." she paused and gulped noisily before finishing, "killings."

"What's the point of knowing all of that, if you're going to die straight afterward?"

"You said yourself that they want me alive. They're not going to kill me."