CHAPTER 45

             "What? Why are you calling Dylan?" Carly asked. That was something didn't think concerned her at all but Carl seemed to think  it did. And a very serious, surprising and scared kind of way. She walked to him. "You guys are really freaking me out. What's going on? Everything around here seems and feels abnormal."

  Instead of replying,Carl tapped his foot on the floor impatiently waiting for Dylan to pick ki she finally did,he almost shouted into the receiver,"Dylan,we have got a big problem. You need to come here as soon as possible!" He then hang up the phone without waiting for a reply and turned back to her.

                 "Nothing is normal sis. We have not known normal ever since Dylan's qqqq metaphors and riddles and just tell me directly what is going on?" she shouted. "What did I do?"

                    "That Kelley,is the woman who killed Dylan's mother. At least that's what she believes. They have a past that didn't go so well and she might be the one  threatening her and you which means the whole family is in danger."

 Carly didn't hear the rest of his words. The words 'killed, Dylan and mother' kept ringing in her head continuously. She felt the strength in her body wane. A wave of dizziness washed over her as she started seeing a million little stars crossing in front of her eyes. She slowly walked back to the couch and sat down.

                  "You are saying that I kissed a cold blooded murderer who may have killed Wendy?" she asked but her voice sounded like it was a million miles away. There was a constant sharp ringing in her head. Her throat and mouth went dry as if her glands had been drained. She blinked multiple times not wanting to believe what she had just heard. So the strange feeling, the coldness wasn't all wrongly placed? Her gut had tried to tell her something but she hadn't listened closely. Her head wasn't even in the fact that she had probably been some minutes away from her death or abduction. She was going over the fact that she had gotten involved with the woman who killed an innocent and harmless woman. Her ex-lover's mother, the ex-lover who still meant the world to her. The woman who was the reason for Dylan's pain had almost taken her. She now felt angry and disgusted. The horrid feeling rose up from the pit of her stomach and threatened to choke her. She rose up and rushed to the bathroom, the sudden movement almost sending her tumbling to the ground. She had barely reached the toilet seat when she threw up. If only the contents were enough to cleanse the feeling she had in her stomach and erase the taste of her cold lips from her mouth. It had been hours since that happened but she suddenly felt like it had just happened. She closed her eyes and knelt right there. Angry, furious and most of all, guilty.

                       ★★★

 Dylan shot out of the seat she had been sitting on in the last one hour thinking about what steps she could take. She'd had no luck finding the whereabouts of Kelley but there had been no more notes or phone text ever since the day she had been at the bar with Carly. Oh yeah, Carly. She had been meaning to call her and at least apologize for the way she had acted at the bar and to explain everything to her but each time she took up the phone, the words to say disappeared immediately. She had given up each time until eventually she had decided that meeting her would be the best option. It would have to be discreet since she felt like there were eyes everywhere watching them but she deserved to know the truth. The sound of Carl's panicked voice forced her to jump into action wondering what had happened. Before she could even ask him the same, the call went dead on the other end. Without wasting time, she grabbed a jacket and her gun then headed out towards her car quickly.

 She tried calling his cellphone multiple times as she drove towards his apartment in the evening traffic but he hadn't answered. Slow moving traffic,panic,worry and a million negative thoughts caused her to honk her horn desperately. There was no way she could get there on time if  Carl had been in danger when he called. She remembered something. She opened her glove compartment and removed a circular object. It acted as an alternative whenever she was in a hurry to get somewhere and the traffic wouldn't let her. She hit the activating button and the police siren wailed clearly and perfectly. Within no time, she was driving past the other cars speedily without any problem. That would be violating protocol if she was caught but did it matter? She had already been suspended.

Five minutes later, she knocked at Carl's apartment impatiently.

                   "Carl, open up! It's me." 

Carl was there within seconds,a very worried look in his face. "What's going on? You hang up the phone even before you could say anything." she asked and followed him inside.

                   "Kelley Smith is what's going on."

                    "What? Where is she,what did she do?" she asked in quick succession. "Did she approach you?"

                   "No,not me." She looked at him puzzled but just in that moment,Carly appeared. One look at her and her whole body jumped in alarm. She looked pale and weak like someone who had just gone through a rather intense episode of shock. And now she thought of the worst.

                  "Oh God! Carly, what happened?"

                   "I'm so sorry Dylan,I swear I had no idea who she was,"Carly said as the first of her tears fell.

                    "What did she do to you,tell me." Carly clearly was not in a position to talk so she turned to her brother.

                     "Apparently they went out for a coffee and then Kelley kissed her. The moment I told her who Kelley Wass, she has spent every last minute in the bathroom throwing up."

   Dylan tried to take it lightly but couldn't help the feeling of jealousy that suddenly took over. She swallowed painfully and looked away. She however didn't let the feeling take full control of her. Who Carly kissed or didn't wasn't any of her business except when it turned out to be the person who allegedly killed her mother. So, she was more angry than jealous. The anger however was mostly on her part for not warning Carly,not giving her everything she needed to know. Maybe all this could not have happened.

                 "Did she do anything else to you?" she asked then realized the question could be translated into two meanings. "Something like hurt you or threaten you?"

                  "No," Carly shook her head then frowned as she remembered something. "She knew my surname and I don't remember telling her. She claimed I did and I dismissed the whole thing thinking that maybe I had mentioned it unknowingly. With everything that has been going on, it's hard to keep track of everything."

                    "That means she knew exactly who you were before she first approached you. When was that?"

                    "Tuesday morning at the food truck near the hospital. I just thought she was a customer just like everyone else and when we talked, she told me that she worked a few blocks from the hospital."

                    "Kelley is an ex-convict. She was just released from prison last weekend. No one would hire her with her record unless it is a family business."

Carly looked up in surprise, "I never would have guessed. She looked so normal,so innocent and just like any other business woman. I'm really sorry, I should have trusted my instincts." Dylan looked at her questioningly, wondering what she meant. "I felt something strange around her. I thought it was just me not trusting people but then she kissed me and I felt unmoved. I actually felt dead inside,as if nothing had happened at all. No fiery anticipation or excitement you feel right before a kiss. Nothing at all."

                   "That's what happens when you go kissing people  you know for sure aren't in your heart, trying to escape how you actually feel," Carl contributed to the conversation and they both gave him warning looks. He shrugged. "I'm just saying. But in this case you add the fact that she is unfeeling, inhuman with no empathy."

                   "How did you get involved with Kelley?" Carly asked after a little hesitation.

Dylan sighed and walked closer to her couch,"May I sit here?" 

                  "Of course."

                   "I will leave you two alone to talk,"Carl excused himself and went to his bedroom.

                           ★★★

    It took her several minutes to decide where she would begin. Some parts had been really good but she knew there were others she would rather not say because she would be reliving the pain again. But she would have to go through it because she wanted to talk, she needed to. She cleared her throat and faced up to the ceiling as if that was where her story was written.

                  "It all began when I graduated from the police academy and landed this job,to infiltrate the women's penitentiary to investigate allegations about this woman. She was believed to be running an illegal operation,drugs and human trafficking. She recruited even underage women to work in her sick clubs." She stopped and Carly nodded for her to go ahead. "I needed to fit in and so,I decided to do exactly that. The only problem was that I chose the wrong people to do so. Kelley and her group of girls. The woman was a close friend of Kelley who happened to be the ‘owner’ of everything and every inmate in the prison. I didn't want to be owned so, I tried to gain my own place," she paused and closed her eyes. That was a part of her story she regretted most. She had to do it but taking advantage of another woman wasn't even right. She always tried to convince herself that it was just a job but the guilt was always there.

                "I hooked up with a woman,took advantage of her rather and that was the beginning of my misery even though I didn't know that until much later. They didn't discover who I was until on the last day after I got the answers I had gone to look for. And when they did,I paid in the worst way possible. They are in there but it's like they are out here, seeing everything and knowing about everyone. Instead of me,they found my mother." At that point, she didn't know if she had the strength to go on. The thought of it was too painful. Her heart ached causing her breath to harden. Her eyes stung as tears sprung into her eyes. She tried to blink them away but failed. "My mom... she had tried to warn me." 

    At that moment, she felt Carly's hand touch her comfortingly. It felt so good,it felt less lonely. She wasn't in her own sad world alone anymore. She needed that touch just like the other day at the bar. And this time she didn't want to pull away. It gave her the strength to go ahead.

                "I was supposed to go for dinner that night. She had made my favorite because she was so happy that I had gone to the prison and gotten out unscathed. I found the dinner,still on the table but my mom was nowhere to be found or heard." 

Carly tightened her hold while the other hand made soothing movements on her back but didn't speak. 

              "She was so against it. Some of those women are animals but I didn't listen to her. I wanted to do the job so bad. I wanted to be of service to the society but that cost me my..." she couldn't manage to get the word out of her mouth. She broke down.

                 "Sshh, it's okay. Take your time," Carly whispered softly and held her more closely then kissed her forehead lightly.

                 "I should have listened,I should have refused to go there. I wouldn't have had to find my mom lying there in here bathtub, she was stabbed three times. Her eyes... she was so scared...I wasn't there to protect her...I tried everything I could Lee,I really did but she was already too far gone."

  Carly rocked her in her arms trying to console her. She knew she needed it, she needed to let go and not just focus on avenging her mother but also her mental health. She needed to come to terms with it and holding her there, feeling her trembling in her arms, she took it as her responsibility to walk with her. To help her through it all. She was confident that now she would be more open.

                   "I know you tried Dee,I know you did but it wasn't your fault. I am really sorry, you didn't deserve any of that."