The Waitress

20 - My Mother

"Jared, I'm telling you this doesn't look right," Lexus argued through the phone. "It says right here; she's supposed to be dead. I ran the image from T.V and it's a perfect match; this is her! You told me to look into it, and this is what I've come up with."

"It just seems a little... odd, doesn't it?" Jared replied with a sigh. "This woman was killed in a car crash almost ten years ago; why would she kill her family to cover up her death?"

"Actually, not the entire family was killed," Lexus announced, and Jared could hear her sorting through papers on the other side of the line. "This is what I found; Genevieve Kate Monsford, twenty seven years old. Died in a car crash ten years ago that involved her husband and her daughter. The husband; twenty nine, Wyatt James Monsford and the daughter; ten, Kaely Jane Monsford. The parents died and the girl grew up in foster homes around Australia."

"Runaway?" Jared asked, surprised; he felt Lexus' grimace through the line.

"Yes," she answered. "Now twenty years old, living in an apartment in Adelaide. Works at a restaurant in Marion and has no family in Australia."

"Foreign?" Jared questioned.

"She's from England," Lexus confirms. "We don't know why Genevieve moved to Australia to fake her death considering she's gone this long working with Bryson without trouble, so we have to assume this girl didn't die for a reason."

"Maybe the husband suspected something?" Jared suggested. "She could've killed him and covered it up with her own death to avoid suspicion."

"It's likely," Lexus agreed. "She could be protecting her daughter, or she might not know her daughter is still alive. The girl's alone, but I can't be sure if she knows her mother's death was faked. We can't take anymore risks, Jared, but what if Genevieve reaches out to her? What if she already has reached out to her? If we got our hands on her, it might grab their attention. We could use her to our advantage."

"And what if she hasn't reached out?" Jared asked. "What if she doesn't know her daughter exists? We'll be giving them both a reason to end us."

"Then you'll need to protect her," Lexus shot back. "You know the rule; no attachments. If Genevieve finds out we have her, we need to make sure she can't be reached. So you find out what she knows and when you're certain that she doesn't know anything, we send her away somewhere Genevieve won't find her. Clear?"

"Yeah, we're on our way to her now. If you can find a picture of her, send it to us along with her address; we'll track her there if she isn't at work," he replied, hanging up before turning to the guys. "We have a lead; her name is Genevieve Monsford, and she has a daughter. If she's in contact with her, it's likely we could stop this whole thing before it's too late."

"Alright, let's get a move on," Dexter announced, grabbing his gun from the table to tuck it in the back of his pants. They all got in the van and set off for Marion with the hopes of finally stopping two of the most dangerous people in Australia from killing the Governor-General before chaos erupted.

When they arrived, Jared got the girl's home address from Lexus before setting off to find the restaurant she worked in in Marion. It would be better if they could catch her here; if they could help her and gain her trust, it would be much easier for them to find out what she knows than it would if they broke into her home and confronted her there. So they made it to the restaurant without being discovered by anyone, and were confronted by a young woman. She was pretty, but she looked exhausted.

"Hi, what can I do for you?" she asked cheerfully. Her accent was English, but it had faded. She had a smile to reflect her politeness, but also how tired and tested she was. He studied her features, itching to pull out his phone and take a look at the picture Lexus had sent him. He stopped himself, soon realising he hadn't answered her yet.