| Subject: Priority Mail 312 |
Author:
Nikita507
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Date Posted: Wednesday, September 21, 07:15:07pm
In reply to:
Nikita507
's message, "Priority Mail 310+" on Sunday, September 11, 04:24:46pm
Laura was reviewing the notes that she had gotten from her father and was not getting anywhere with finding the next lead. She had spent days with Jason trying to form a plan to figure out where to go next, but today Tom had put the end to it. Laura didn’t understand how she could let Tom do this to her, but he had been right about Washington DC.
They had spent four days there. Each day, Laura protested some. Especially after the third food truck that Tom dragged her too. But then he got her to go to museums and they even toured the White House like tourist. Her father would be upset that she didn’t let him pull strings for a special behind-the-scenes tour that he could have swung, but that wouldn’t have been right.
She had slept in at her hotel today and had a leisurely breakfast. She had called Tom to see if he was coming over, but she had gotten his voicemail instead. He had mentioned that he had to see to some other things today but Laura wasn’t about to admit that she was lonely without him around. It was hard to remember the last time that she had a day that didn’t involve Tom in it.
She was about to turn on the television to see what news she was missing when there was a knock at her hotel door. Laura smiled as she headed towards the door. “Tom… I knew that you would have plans with me by-“
But it wasn’t Tom.
“Hello Detective Rowles,” Nikita spoke as she stood there, her hands calmly crossed in front of her waist, her blonde hair parted straight down the middle, and wearing a dark blue blouse with dark washed jeans. She didn’t move forward as she studied Laura and didn’t comment on how she wasn’t Tom. Laura couldn’t help the flush of red that took over her face.
There was a reason why she hoped that it was Tom that she wasn’t quite ready to admit too.
“Ah…” Laura started to speak but couldn’t come up with words. She had been faced with the one person she was trying to avoid. It was easy to try to look for the child but not think about this woman. This woman who came into her life to get Lisa and had turned everything upside down.
“May I come in?” Nikita asked softly and without a lot of force. She was asking softly and she was facing Laura with a look that she would be turned away. Laura swallowed and nodded her head. She stepped back and waited for Nikita to enter. She looked around the room and then back to Laura. “Tom informed me that I couldn’t continue to avoid you.”
Laura blinked her eyes. She had been avoiding Nikita. She turned her head to the side and then sat down at the table that she had sat at while eating her breakfast. “Ah... Look... Ah…”
“Oh,” Nikita blushed this time as she bowed her head slightly. “You haven’t officially met me… my real name is Nikita. I apologize for the previous deception that I had to do.”
“No,” Laura shook her head slightly from side to side. “Tom explained what was going on a lot. It is odd and it shook me to the core… but I have been forced into seeing the world differently now.”
“That doesn’t happen overnight,” Nikita commented and Laura looked around and frowned. “Please sit down… Ah-Nikita.”
“Thank you,” Nikita nodded her head as she moved as directed. She looked across the table at Laura and swallowed. “And thank you for helping me. I know that you didn’t have too.”
Laura looked to her feet and then back to Nikita. “I think I had too.”
Nikita fell silent as she studied this woman. They could talk about so much but it was clear that Laura was highly uncomfortable. This was why Nikita didn’t think this would do Laura much good at this point. Laura should have figured out when to come confront Nikita about what had happened. “I was avoiding you also, Nikita.”
“Really?” Nikita inquired as she shook her head. “Why? You did nothing… I roped you into all of this.”
“Because somehow you knew what I needed more than I knew what I needed,” Laura shook her head slightly. “I was a good detective… that’s what I always wanted to be… but I thought things were simple. I always felt that I was missing something with my father… and now I see it so much clearer now.”
“He doesn’t know the gritty details, Laura.”
“Tom told me that also,” Laura admitted and Nikita blinked her eyes. She did not doubt it now. Something more was developing between Tom and Laura. “He helped end the organizations…”
“Section.”
Nikita closed her eyes as she nodded her head up and down. “I didn’t trust him.”
“You didn’t trust anyone, did you?” Laura inquired. Nikita shook her head slightly. “You are wrong about that.”
Laura stopped and was now studying Nikita. Nikita rolled her shoulders back. “I trusted Michael… and I trusted Rhoda.”
“Rhoda?”
“She is the sister at the church I was sort of staying at when I wasn’t trying to right the wrongs that I thought I had caused on the world,” Nikita explained as she shrugged her shoulders. “I think I righted her world too… she left the sisterhood, which some people would think was nuts. But she found that her life was meant to be spent with Nat – he is a detective too. They are the people that Lisa is staying with now.”
Laura raised an eyebrow and she watched as Nikita nodded her head up and down. “They are getting along together well… I don’t think that Lisa has dealt with what happened that night…. But she is getting on with her life and they get along great.”
“So you did find her a good home.”
“The best,” Nikita nodded her head as she reached across the table. “I know that you probably worried the most about that… what we did with that girl that you had protected.”
That was when Nikita’s cell phone started to ring. Nikita rolled her eyes. “I’m sorry… I thought I had turned that off.”
“Answer it,” Laura chuckled as she knew how it was to have a cell phone ring at the wrong time. Laura watched as Nikita glanced at the phone and it was clear that it was not who she thought it was. “Hi, Rhoda… Ironically I was just talking about you, Nat and Lisa.”
“Lisa is missing,” Rhoda announced with a raw voice. Nikita sat up straight. “What?”
“She isn’t home… and she was to be here. She doesn’t go out yet… and Nat doesn’t know where she is… and he looks really more upset at himself… like he should have known where she was… she snuck out!” Rhoda’s voice started to get more frantic. Nikita rubbed her forehead as she frowned. Of course she had to be just telling Laura how good Lisa was doing with Rhoda and Nat.
To make matters worse, Nikita was almost sure what was going on.
“Have you tried to get in touch with Adam?”
“What does Adam have to do with this? We’ve kept them apart! Lisa has to worry about healing with her trauma… she doesn’t need friends right now,” Rhoda protested and Nikita stood up. “We need to talk to Adam.”
“I don’t understand why!”
“Because I know that Lisa has met Adam,” Nikita spoke as she winced and squeezed her eyes shut.
But there was no yelling.
“Rhoda?” Nikita questioned and then she heard the crying. “I could be wrong here, Rhoda… but let’s try to find Adam.”
“Wasn’t I enough?”
“She is a teenager,” Nikita reminded Rhoda as she shook her head. “So is Adam. What you need to do is find her computer.”
“We haven’t gotten her one yet! That was going to be a gift next week,” Rhoda sobbed and Nikita squeezed her eyes shut again, knowing that she had a lot to say to Adam when he was found. “Adam probably helped her make one. Both, by themselves, are too smart for their age…. Together, they got her computer.”
“You know for a fact that Adam is with her?”
“No,” Nikita sighed as she glanced at Laura who was listening to everything. “But if they aren’t together. He’ll know where to look for her.”
“You are to be looking for your daughter…”
“That can wait, Rhoda. We don’t have a good lead about where my daughter is. We all know that Lisa is new to the area and fragile about what happened. That’s the priority,” Nikita outlined as she turned and saw that Laura was pulling her purse out. Nikita finished up the conversation by saying that she would come and pick up Rhoda. Nikita would find the computer if Rhoda hadn’t done so by the time she got there.
“Ok… let’s go,” Laura walked to the door and opened it. “You’ll have to drive.”
“You don’t have to do this.”
“I think this might be the best way for me to learn about all of this… to see it more than what Tom tells me.”
“And we can talk?”
“Better than avoiding it,” Laura rasped as she nodded her head up and down.
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