With my bags packed with enough clothes to last me for another week or so, I locked the front door to my house. Tyson was sulking at the side gate, so I asked Aiden to put my bags in the car whilst I gave him another pat good-bye. Aiden was only too happy to oblige.
I knelt down and slipped my hand through the small opening in the fence, and Tyson greeted my hand with slobbery kisses. I felt guilty for leaving him behind, but Mum had assured me she would take care of him. I had to trust that there was reason enough for her to want me to stay away from the house, even if she wasn’t willing to tell me what that reason was. She had been so evasive the last few days, but sooner or later, I was going to find out what she was hiding.
At that moment, though, I had other things to think about. I had to be at the police station in twenty minutes, and who knew what they might ask me.
Mum had said they would only be doing their routine questioning, but I knew that somewhere along the line, I would have to lie to them. And I was pretty sure obstructing an investigation was a criminal offence. Yet how could I tell them the truth about my visions? I couldn’t. And that meant I had to be on guard, ready to lie whenever necessary, but without bringing any suspicion to my involvement. The last thing we needed was for some hot-shot police officer with a hunch following us around.
“Come on. We better go if we’re going to make it there on time.” Aiden’s voice rang through my mind.
I turned around to see that he was already in the driver’s seat with the engine running, waiting for me to hop in. I turned back to Tyson and gave him one more rub around his ear before getting up.
When I turned around, I caught Mrs. Carson peeping through her side window. My eyes grew wide. If Chelsea had been kidnapped in front of my house like in my vision, my neighbour, with her obsessive snooping, had more than likely witnessed the crime.
As soon as Mrs. Carson realised that I had spotted her, she quickly pulled the curtains in front of her, disappearing from sight.
My head whirled with possibilities. What if Mrs. Carson had seen the attacker before? What if he had been watching Chelsea for some time? What if she knew what he looked like?
Hope and anger flooded my body as I raced next door to face Mrs. Carson. I knocked on her front door, but she didn’t answer. “I know you’re in there!” I pounded on the door. I hoped to God that my hunch was right; at the same time, I would be mad as hell if I was right, because that would mean that the old bat knew all along who had taken Chelsea and wasn’t planning to tell anyone.
“What’s your plan?” Aiden asked, pulling me back and stopping me from bashing down her door.
“She knows something.” I ignored Aiden’s question. “And one way or another, I’m going to get it from her.” I tried to break free from his arms so I could try to bust down her door, but he only held on tighter.
“You don’t need to bash down her door… Just give me a sec… and I’ll be able to… get her to come out,” Aiden said between my struggles to get free.
I stopped my struggle to break free from his arms. “You could have told me that before.”
Aiden rolled his eyes. “If you weren’t always so quick to rush into things, maybe I could have.”
“Yeah, yeah, yeah. Just hurry up and make her come out already.”
He let out a sigh. “Yes, your majesty,” he said out loud.
It was my turn to let out a sigh. Maybe I was a little too quick to jump into things without thinking it through. I didn’t have any more time to think about my actions, though, because the front door was opening.
“Well, hello, dear,” Mrs. Carson sang in her overly pleasant voice.
“Ah…” As she was standing in front of me, I realised why Aiden had asked what my plan was. I mean, it wasn’t as if she was going to volunteer the truth.
Thankfully, Aiden stepped in. “Hi, Mrs. Carson. Jade will be staying over my house for a little while.” Mrs. Carson didn’t hide her disapproval of such ‘shenanigans.’ She tsked, shaking her head. Before she could lecture us on how children our age would never have done that in her day (and believe me, I’ve had my fair share of lectures from her over the last year), Aiden continued. “You know, with the two abductions over the past few days, Jade’s mum thought it might be best for her to stay somewhere where there were people around her all the time.”
“Oh. Yes, I have heard about that. Such poor girls. In my day—”
“I’m sorry to interrupt, but we have to be down at the police station in a few minutes.”
“Oh?” She obviously hoped Aiden would elaborate, but of course he didn’t. I was sure he wanted to get out of there as quickly as possible, and I was glad he was doing the questioning. I don’t think I would have been as charming as him.
“As I was saying, Jade will be away for a while, and we were wondering if you would be able to keep an eye on the house and the dog. Jade’s a little worried that her mum may not feed the big fella all the time. You know, with the odd hours she keeps.”
I gave a slight smile, nodding in agreement.
“Oh, of course I’ll keep an eye on things,” Mrs. Carson said. “And don’t worry about that dog of yours either. I’ll slip him some leftovers from dinner.”
“That would be a huge relief,” I said, finally managing to enter the conversation.
“Okay. Thanks for that, but we better get going. We don’t want to leave the detectives waiting.” Aiden turned to leave, leaving me wondering what the hell happened to us finding out if she knew anything. I expected him to turn back, yet he kept walking to the car. I mean, it wasn’t as if he was able to read minds like his parents could. And it wasn’t as if he asked Mrs. Carson anything that may have got her thinking of the attacker. But then again, what would I know? I couldn’t hear anyone’s thoughts. Maybe she’d thought about it as soon as she’d opened the door.
Aiden was almost at the car when I decided I’d better catch up. “Thanks again.” I put on a fake smile for Mrs. Carson before running back to his BMW.
“What’s the go?” I asked, sitting down in the passenger seat. “Did she give it up as soon as she saw us?”
“Nope.” He turned the ignition and put on his seatbelt before pulling onto the road. “When I told her about you staying at mine because of the abductions, her mind went straight to the morning she saw Chelsea taken.”
I sat up in my seat. “Are you serious?” I couldn’t believe my ears. I had hoped to God that my hunch was right, but I wasn’t sure we would be so lucky.
“Sure am.” A smile was plastered across that gorgeous face of his.
Chapter 14