We had ended up hiding in a secret ‘passageway’ that had collapsed some years ago that could be accessed by the hidden door near the stair cases. The other access points were all ‘blocked’ or ‘sealed’ apparently.

We stayed seated, in silence, there on the dusty ground as we listened to the police search the area.

It felt like hours passed but bringing my cellphone into view only about 15 minutes had passed. I never was claustrophobic, but ‘suffocating’ air and the cramped space we were all basically ‘forced’ into had me feeling anxious.

“Sir, no one’s here!” A police officer called over a radio, in a static voice we could hear someone tell the man that they had an alarm go off and that even the ‘owner’ reported his ‘sister’s’ location as being there.

“Yes sir, we’ll stay and keep watch for a while, but I’m fairly sure, Cairi’s not here!” The way they spoke, sounded almost as if the ‘police’ knew her personally. I recalled Jason’s ‘ease’ when he told us his sister was at the police station; that had to be the reason, Cairi was a regular there!

We heard the police officer exit the mansion and stayed there waiting for bit longer knowing that leaving now we’d get caught.

“It almost sounds like Jason’s got GPS on you!”

“Yip, but I’ve checked for anything he could track my by. Dumped my phone before coming, made sure had no accessories on that could have a tracker planted on. He’s just that good!”

“And the police? Sounds like a personal ‘relationship’ going on there!”

“You lot really don’t know, do you?” We looked at her, not a clue what she was referring to.

“My grandfather was a captain, our whole family basically is raised to be ‘police’ officers, but Mom didn’t want that life so she got into singing and acting especially; was pretty good at it too! My brother though loves the profession, only reason he’s going to college is cause of me, to keep ‘track’ of me. He’s like an undercover detective.”

“We thought that Old Man Shaw was an actor himself?”

“Oh him, yes he was, but I’m talking about my other ‘grandfather’ on Mom’s side not Dad’s! Mom only got out because even Grandad hated the idea his baby girl could get hurt...” Her voice betrayed her and I suddenly needed to know more about her, who was, as it all started to feel like she was making all this trouble to get ‘attention’.

“So now we need to figure out how your brother is able to know where you are at all times…” Marshall spoke up, an idea coming to mind.

“So you’re sure you’ve never came here of anything specific the entire time?” Marshall asked. And she grinned, a sigh escaping her as she shook her head.

“My monitor…” She rolled up her sleeve revealing a bracelet keeping track of her heart rate. More questions formed. If she knew he might be tracking her, checked everything why didn’t she suspect this?

“And why are you wearing this?”

“Because! And I know for a fact Jason won’t mess with it, so that’s why I know it’s not this little thing, but…” She sighed again.

“And why would your brother not ‘maybe’ mess with it?” I asked.

“Because!” She grinned; malice oozing through her teeth, but untrue to my own nature to just let things slide I stood my ground for the first time perhaps; folding my arms, demanding a reason! No sooner did she give.

“Cause I was born with a weak heart! But I haven’t had any issues in years, but as you all know Jason is… as well as my grandfather… they… they’re overly protective of me, since my parents…” Again her voice seemed to betray her and realization dawned on us, their parents were no longer in the picture.

That night was the night we all, except for Richard, became friends. And I especially drew closer to her the more I heard her voice & the longer I had her in my sights… The more I thought of her… The more I wanted to be there for her as she found ‘peace’ with whatever happened to her family.