SNOW GLOBE (20 page)

Inside, Aja could sense that he’d been there. Like the stench of death, his aura lingered.

Aja’s mom ran to each room, dripping water as she ran. “He’s gone. But he was here.”

They went to the kitchen to check the back door. It was closed, but unlocked. That frightened Aja. Did he have a key?

“What’s this?” Aja’s mom picked up some photographs from the counter near the door.

“I don’t know.”

“What the…” Aja’s mom’s hand went to her mouth. She held the pictures up so Aja could see them. Worry creased her mom’s face.

Aja almost choked when she saw the first photograph. It was of Aja sitting at her desk in her room, studying. It had been taken from outside through Aja’s window. There were a few of those, but the one that seared her insides was the photo of Aja’s police mug shot pasted on a naked body taken from a centerfold.

“Now we call the police,” her mom cried. “This is too much to take.”

Aja was numb. “No, don’t call. He’ll come back.” She could barely talk. “Call that lady, Smith.”

Aja’s mom nodded, her hand still over her face. They both stood there shocked, unable to move, still dripping water from their impromptu rain shower.

“Don’t touch them.” Aja’s brain started to work. “Put them back where they were. Maybe his fingerprints are on them. All the more reason not to call 911. If he comes back, he’ll have an excuse to have touched them.”

Her mom dropped them on the counter like they were burning her fingers. Then her mom grabbed Aja in a big hug. “Oh, my God. What the hell is going on?” They stood that way for a few minutes. “I’m going to call Clara Wells and see if we can stay with her. I don’t feel safe here.” She released Aja from the hug. “Then we’ll call Officer Smith. Go pack a bag.”

“Okay.” Aja went to her room. She needed to change out of her wet clothes and took dry shorts and a top into the bathroom. After a peeping Tom incident in Arizona, she and her mom were extra careful about changing in front of windows anymore.

Aja changed and put some toiletries in a tote bag. She heard her mother on the phone, hopefully talking to Officer Smith. Aja packed her schoolwork and went to the kitchen, where her mom sat at the table on the phone. She was still wet and drippy.

“Okay, we’ll wait here, but hurry. We’re both frightened, and he was just watching us outside.” Her mom paused. “Yes, it was him. Positive.”

When her mom hung up Aja asked, “Is she coming?”

“Yeah, but she’s not on duty today so she’s calling someone who is. Hopefully they’ll come without raising red flags at the station.”

“Call Maggie.”

“Good idea. Let me change out of these wet clothes first.”

“You change, I’ll call.” Aja took the phone and Maggie’s business card.

By the time her mom came back in the kitchen, Aja had left a message at Maggie’s office. “They said she was unavailable but they’d get a message to her right away.”

Aja stood and went to the kitchen window. She knew he was still out there, waiting. She was tired of being scared by him. Her fear was slowly turning into something else: survival. Kill or be killed. This time justice would be served, and somehow she’d be the one to hand it to him on a platter.

Chapter 37

Within the hour, their house was filled with people. Officer Smith was there wearing casual clothes. Another uniformed officer Aja had never seen was bagging the photographs. Maggie was there supervising and asking questions.

Clay Richards had driven by but didn’t stop, even when he saw the police car in the drive. Fiona, from across the street, came by to see what all the ruckus was about—again.

“You guys are really testing our crime watch group,” Fiona said. “How can two women get into so much trouble?”

“It’s a long story,” Aja said. They were in the living room, having been shooed out of the kitchen since the officer was there. Aja glanced at the clock: it was almost seven. She wondered if Lewis would show up, too.

“I thought you all were going to be great neighbors,” Fiona shook her head. “You guys making drugs here or something? Is the psychic stuff a front?”

“Fiona, you know us better than that,” Aja’s mom said, coming in from her bedroom with a small suitcase.

“I thought I did,” Fiona said.

Aja’s mom put her suitcase by the front door. “Fiona, did you happen to see anybody writing on Aja’s car today?”

“Come to think of it, I did. Pretty little thing, tall, wearing those expensive sweat pants with PINK written all over her butt. I never understood paying so much for sweats. You can get them at Walmart for five bucks.”

“And you didn’t call anybody, or ask her to stop?” Aja’s mom asked.

“Nah, you know kids. They’re always writing all over cars, especially before graduation. I really didn’t pay any attention. She seemed like a cheerleader or something, so I figured she was a friend from school.” Fiona laughed, a raspy smoker’s wheeze. “It happened to my kids all the time. Supposed to mean you’re cool or something, but that stuff is hard to get off.”

“Did she have dark hair?” Aja asked, remembering Kendall taking Walker’s car.

Fiona shrugged. “Like I said, I wasn’t really paying any attention. She had a ball cap on, too. She may have been a brunette. I couldn’t really tell you.”

Aja looked at her mom. “It was probably Kendall.” She struggled to remember what she was wearing as she sat in the car, but she could only picture Walker’s face.

“Walker’s friend?”

Aja nodded. “I don’t know how she knew where I lived.”

Fiona left, and Maggie came into the living room from the kitchen. “I need to talk to you both when they get finished here. I found out some things that will help our case.”

“What kinds of things?” Aja asked.

Maggie looked at the police officer in the kitchen and whispered, “Later. Too many ears here now.”

Officer Smith overheard her. “We’ll be out of here soon. Or should I say, he’ll be out, since I’m technically not working.”

“Thanks for coming,” Aja’s mom said. “If there’s anything I can do for you, please let me know.”

“Thanks.”

Twenty minutes later, everybody had left. Maggie, Aja, and her mom sat in the living room munching on a quickly made salad since the kitchen was a mess with the fingerprint powder. “I talked to a few of the girls in the detention center. Turns out Clay Richards has done some bad things to a few of them.”

“Bad things?” Aja gulped.

“Yeah, like sexually assaulting at least one of them.”

“Who?” Aja asked.

Maggie pulled a file from her case and opened it. “Patish Nguyen. According to her, Clay Richards ‘felt her t’s and a’ quote, unquote. She said he was her mother’s sugar daddy who kept her supplied on ‘shit.’” Maggie paused. “I’m not sure what kind of drugs yet, but according to Patish, her mom got mad when she thought her daughter was trying to take him away from her.” Maggie shook her head. “I don’t understand people.”

“Why didn’t she press charges?” Aja asked.

“Girls like her don’t often report abuse. For some, it’s a way of life,” Maggie said.

“Do you know her?” Aja’s mom asked, turning to her daughter.

Aja shook her head. “Patish? I don’t remember anyone by that name.”

Maggie glanced at Aja, “She said she knew you. She also talked about a girl named Julia. Apparently, the truant officer Hilary Lewis was trying to help this girl, but Richards was harassing her too. Scared her so much she ran away.”

“Wait, Pa
tish
…Tish?” Aja said.

Maggie looked at the file again. “Yeah, I think. Thin girl with pink-streaked hair?”

“Yeah, that’s Tish.” Aja sat up. “Richards abused her too? How does this guy get away with it?”

“Again, why didn’t that girl Julia report him?” Aja’s mom asked. “Two girls being harassed warrants some investigation.”

Maggie shrugged. “He may have scared her so much she was afraid to say anything.”

Aja remembered Tish’s bullying. It was no doubt a front for a scared little girl. A defense mechanism. “Tish probably never had a chance in life,” Aja said quietly. “And I thought I was screwed up.”

Aja’s mom gave her a puzzled look. “Since when did you think you were screwed up?”

“Well, you know, our constant moving and instability. Getting tossed in the slammer and
celebrating
it.”

“Aja, you know better than that, those were for good causes.” Her mom seemed hurt.

Maggie stepped in. “After working with so many types of people I’ve found there is no normal. We all just keep moving forward and try not to step in the dog crap.” She smiled, tempering the argument. “Now let’s go over your case. I’m appointed as your legal counsel for the trespassing charge. But, I’d also like to build a case against Clay Richards. Are you up for that?” she asked Aja.

“Oh, yeah,” Aja said. “I want to totally nail this guy.”

“Okay, then let’s get started.”

Maggie stayed for almost an hour, going over what to expect and said that she’d follow up with the investigation of the photos left in the kitchen. She also showed them the pictures she’d taken of Aja’s bruised back. Aja was afraid her mom was going to run screaming to find Richards right then and see that he’d never be able to have children.

“I’ll make him walk with a limp for the rest of his life,” her mom cried.

Maggie put the photos away. “It’s probably best if we try to take him down legally.”

Aja laughed. “I guess your peaceful resolution for all doesn’t apply here?”

Her mom backed down and smiled. “You’re right. But I’ve never been this mad or threatened before.”

“We should take a self-defense course that will teach us to be one with our needle-nosed pliers.”

Her mom giggled.

Maggie gave them a puzzled look.

“Long story,” Aja laughed.

The phone rang, and Aja’s mom got up to answer it.

“Did you show the judge those pictures?” Aja asked Maggie.

“He’s reviewing the case now. That’s where I was earlier.” She looked at her watch. “It’s getting late. We’ll be in touch tomorrow.” She stood to leave.

Aja’s mom came back. “That was Hilary Lewis. I told her what happened and that we were not staying here tonight. She wasn’t happy about it, but didn’t argue.”

“I’ll try to contact her tomorrow,” Maggie said.

She left Aja and her mom alone. It was almost dark, and although Aja wished she could just curl up in her own bed, she thought of the pictures Clay Richards had taken of her at her desk. “Make sure all the doors and window are locked,” Aja said. “I’ll follow you to Mrs. Wells’s house so I can go right to school tomorrow.”

Aja went to her room to grab a few more things. She stopped in the doorway and looked out the window. She didn’t see anybody outside but turned out the light anyway. It was dusk, and her room was deeply shadowed. She went to her stack of books and included a few old vocabulary workbooks in her stack. Maybe she’d go by the detention center tomorrow after school and talk to Tish.

Chapter 38

Aja was still required to check in with Mrs. Burnett between each class. But instead of it being a chore, Aja looked forward to talking to her. Mrs. Burnett had helped her apply to a few colleges and edited the essays she’d written.

“I love the one about the future and growing old,” Mrs. Burnett said as she handed Aja an edited copy of one of her essays. “You really brought out beautifully how fragile life is and how quickly it passes. Quite a bit of insight for someone so young.”

Aja shrugged. “After seeing the people at the retirement center I wondered what their lives were like when they were my age. Especially the Jensens.”

“Lauren was thrilled to see her father so happy.”

“Maybe they’ll let me go back.”

“I’m sure they will. Now go on, you’ll be late.”

Aja hustled to her next class.

All her teachers were allowing her to turn her homework in without hassle. Dempsey was the only one still giving her attitude, but she accepted Aja’s homework. No mention of summer school had come up.

Her phone had been vibrating all during math, but Aja wouldn’t look at it because she was already walking on a tightrope and she didn’t want to fall. She did not want to have her phone taken away and sent to the office. But she worried that there was some kind of emergency, and she was itching to see who it was.

When math ended, Aja stayed seated and pulled out her phone. Walker and Janie both had texted and called her numerous times. She didn’t have time to check the messages, meet with Mrs. Burnett and get to her next class, so she decided to wait and check with them after school.

Trying to concentrate during her next class, Aja couldn’t help but think about Tish. How could she have allowed Clay Richards to hurt her? Aja felt sick thinking about Tish’s mom pushing the girl away. No wonder she had so many cut scars on her arms. She remembered the little girl that had been slapped by her mom at Abercrombie. Even though the woman abused the child, it was her mom that the little girl went to for protection. For Clay Richards to have watched and photographed Aja made her shiver to her bones. Fearing for herself and her mom because they only had each other.