Diamond in the Rough: Chapter 65

"Get your hands off my bag!" The woman screamed and Tina, taken aback, just looked at her in disbelief.  She had been helping Helen to clean up the mission, and mistook a very grimy, paper bag with oil stains on it as garbage.

"I'm sorry, I didn't know . . ."

"Unhand it!"

"I did, it's right here," she said, pointing.

"Now leave me alone!"

"Hey, hey, Bessie?  No need to yell, darlin,'" Anthony began, coming, as if from nowhere, to Tina's aid.

She did feel as though he was her rescuer, at least at that point.

Bessie turned over on her cot to return to sleep, and Tina looked to Anthony.  "Thank you."

"Hey, just helping out."

She looked out the window.  "It's nice out.  I bet it's cold, though."

He said, "I bet it is, too.  But it's got that beautiful, sunny look out there.  You know, it fools you into thinking everything is okay."

She smiled.  "Yeah, I know."

"Care to try it out?  A walk maybe, around the park?"

She thought about it.  Then she said, "Yes, sure."  He extended his arm to her, and said,
"Let's dare it together.  This adventure into the unknown cold promises to be quite a thrill."  Why she had not thought about the Bhadra Diamond in a few days puzzled her for a moment.

On their way to the door, Timothy was coming in.  "Ah, top of the day to ya.  How are ya, today, both of ya?  On your way somewhere?"

"A walk, around the park to brave the weather."  Anthony said.

"Ay, it's a bitter taste of winter, but lovely to look at.  And good morning, Tina."

"Morning, Timothy."

As he walked past them, she went back to get her scarf, and as she did, she heard him say, "Helen, I must get over to the school and then return my grandson to La Boulaie in about thirty minutes.  Can you quickly give me a run down of the needs for the coming week?"

Her ears immediately perked up.  You were waiting for it, here it is.

Helen said, "I made a list.  Don't worry, I'm on top of things."

He said, "With The Boss away, I have to be on my game.  Don't want to let him down, he has enough troubles.  Anyway, I have to go and get the boy.  It's my weekly duty."

Weekly duty.  He goes and brings his grandson to La Boulaie every week?  She thought she had seen him somewhere, but the connection was still evading her.  Exactly whose grandfather was he?

***

"Laurence, you have a visitor," the guard announced, unlocking the cell.  It was Johnson, who did everything in his power to get Mitch's ire up.

"Tell Lieutenant McBain I won't be speaking to him today."

"It's not McBain.  Civilian.  Let's go."

"Don't I have a right to hear who is visiting me and decide about it?"

"You don't know?"

"Why would I know?"

"It's a blonde.  About your age.  Pretty hot number for an old chick."

"Name?"

"I don't know, probably one of your followers."

"I have a right to know her name."

"You might, but I have a right not to tell ya because I don't feel like it . . .wait, I don't recall."

He was an infuriating man that he would have to remember to kill if he had the chance.  He got up from his cot and walked, hands chained, to the visitor area.  He sat at the table and waited.  Finally, a blonde woman, in her fifites, sat across from him.  He recognized her instantly.  "Tera.  Tera Winfield."

"Yes.  I came here to say a few things to you, after all these years, Mitch Laurence."  Bitterness was on her face.

"I am surprised.  You were once such a faithful follower."

"After what you did to me and my family?  No, faithful doesn't describe it."

"What do you want?"

"I want to see you fry, but it doesn't look like I'll have my way about that any time soon.  Unless I can find something to put you away for."

"And you have an idea?"

"You're the reason my mother is dead.  And my father never recovered."

"Those things were not my fault.  You know this.  It's been many years.  Why come back now?"

"I recently heard about your rapes and clandestine murders."

"Nothing of the kind.  I'm in prison, paying for my crimes.  None of them are outside of The Messenger's Cause."

She stood up and began screaming,   "I hope you die, Mitch Laurence!  I hope you die and rot.  You're a killer and I will prove it!" she screamed, and was escorted out, almost carried out, by the guards.  To this, he responded calmly, with hate burning in his eyes.

Johnson returned and walked Mitch to his cell.  He said nothing, staring straight ahead.  Johnson said, "Whatever you did to that chick, I wouldn't want to see," and chuckled as he walked off.

He sat on his cot.  His cellmate said, "Broke someone's heart?"

Mitch responded, "Not that it's your business, but no."  

He sighed and put both hands behind his head.  

She had done perfectly.  No one would EVER suspect her now.

***

They pulled onto the street that Todd had grown up on, in a rental car they had secured by delivery at the hotel.  He pulled over to the side of the road, and sat a moment.

She said, "You don't have to."

He answered, "I do.  Maybe this will change everything.  Maybe it will lead to an answer about Momma, and that's why she's telling me."

"Maybe.  But there's no have to in this.  If you can't, you don't have to, Todd."

He nodded.  "I know but, I think I do."

He was holding the wheel tightly.  She said, "I'm with you, it's going to be all right.  You want to know."

He looked at her, searching her eyes.  "Is this something . . . is it really going to be worth it?  Once I set foot in that house again, there is no turning back."

'I know,"  she touched his face, "whatever you want, my love."

"I want you," he said.  He turned the car away from the curb, and then went back in the direction they came from.

"What are you doing?"

"Going to the hotel."

She said nothing.  They were five houses, maybe six, from the house he grew up in, and now . . . she wasn't sure where it would lead, but she knew he was deeply afraid.  She said, "All right.  It's a beautiful hotel."

"It's a nice one, five star.  There's a pool, maybe we can swim."

"Sure."

The quiet between them loomed for a few moments.  His voice softened.  "I want to be with you.  I just . . . want to hold you.  I want to be . . ."

"Happy?"

"Hmf.  Is that what it is?"

"Yes, that's what it is.  You resist it, but, you really want it.  You don't want your peace to be ruined by whatever it is we might find."

"I just need you.  Is that so bad?"

She moved closer to him, "No, it's not bad."

He continued to drive.  "So we'll swim, maybe have something to eat, and . . ."  He pulled the car over again.  Putting it into park, he slammed his hands on the wheel, startling her, and lowered his head.  "I don't know what to do."

"It's fear, Todd.  I'm afraid, too."

"I can do this.  Momma asked me to, in her own way."

"Yes, she did," she put her hand through his arm and hugged her head to him.

She heard him breathe out, and he said, "Peter Manning's House of Horrors."

She closed her eyes.  Imagining him as a small child, terror on his face, she felt her stomach churn.

He continued, "I haven't been there since I was. . . .maybe since college.  Or a little before."

"Did you go home on vacations and summer?"

"No.  He put me in an apartment.  I was on my own.  In Llanview, since I was like eighteen."

"Todd?"

"Yeah?"

"Why do you think you never remembered this stuff earlier?  Like, maybe when you were in prison?"

He swallowed and turned away from her.  "I don't know."

She said, "You have had enough, Todd.  You can drive this car right back to that hotel right now, and no one, especially me, would ever say you were not brave for everything you've endured and faced.  Maybe it's enough.  Maybe this is just too much.  Between your childhood, jail time, the pardon, being shot, losing us, the crypt, the eight years of torture, the kidnapping in Ireland, and the rest of it, maybe you're just done, Todd."

He turned to her.  "Maybe.  It has been a long road for me.  For us."

"Uhuh," she said, and kissed his cheek.  "That's why it's okay, Todd, either way.  You know that."  The last part was more like a question than a statement, and she was not happy at how insecure about it she sounded.

He put the car in drive, and pulled off, once again in the opposite direction, back toward the house.  He said, "Get ready, in case Freddy Kruger shows up."

She took a deep breath.  In her fear, she felt something else.  Something welling in her, but it wasn't sadness.  It was pride.

*** *** *** *** *** *** *** *** *** *** *** ***
Your comments are 'payment' for the work of the authors. Our writers like to hear your feedback. Please leave a comment when you read.