Free Curiosity Killed the Kat by Elizabeth Nelson Page B

The familiar task of cooking calmed me down and I tried to organize my thoughts enough to have a productive conversation with Sandra.
    The first thing I had to know is what she wanted me to do. I was surprised I hadn’t thought of it before, but it seemed simple now. Yesterday, all I knew was that I needed to rescue this girl, but I hadn’t thought of what was going to come after that. I had been counting on my mother to help sort it out, but that was impossible now. But this was happening to Sandra; she must have her own thoughts about it and her own family that she wanted to get back to. I would ask her what she wanted to do and help her do it.
    Secondly, I needed to consider calling the police. I hadn’t wanted to make that phone call yesterday because I was still reeling from the discovery. It took me until today to be honest with myself enough to know that at this point, I would not be able to salvage my marriage to Steven. I was on the run from my husband and his boss, and although I wasn’t sure of the extent of their crimes, what I did know was enough to guarantee that I could never blindly love and trust my husband again. I had to face the fact that that part of my life was over and I needed to figure out what I wanted in life. So, knowing that Steven and I were through, did I want to call the police?
    On one hand I knew that trying to handle this situation by myself was foolish and I should absolutely call the police; but, on the other hand, I felt a sense of pride at how far I’ d gotten without any help. Of course, I would have to call the police at some point; but, I reasoned to myself, I’ll wait until I’ve spoken to Sandra and I have a better idea of what I’m actually reporting to the police. If I called right now, I wasn’t sure what I would say. I had no evidence. Plus, I’d heard Charlie mention a phone call to a Senator. If powerful men like Senators were involved in this, then I had better have my story straight before I try and explain what was happening to the police.
    I was also starting to wonder if Steven would think to look for me at my mother’s house. He was scheduled to ‘come home’ from his fake trip tomorrow – if he hadn’t already been to the house by now. All it would take would be for him to listen to the answering machine messages that Cecilia had left and he would find out that my mother had died yesterday. He would assume that I had rushed to Danbury after hearing the news.
    We weren’t safe here. I wasn’t sure how much longer we could stay here without putting ourselves in greater danger. It all hinged on whether Steven had believed in my innocent nature enough to want to maintain his deception about being out of town, or if he had started listening to Charlie and suspected me of helping Sandra escape. If he was suspicious of me, he would have checked the house, I was sure of it.
    I heard Sandra coming down the hall to the kitchen. Not wanting to upset her further, I pushed the thought away and busied myself pouring her a cup of coffee and refilling my own empty cup.
    “Do you take cream or sugar,” I asked her cheerfully.
    “Both please,” she said, looking at me strangely.
    I couldn’t blame her. We were hiding out from two men who had possibly killed a woman and who were certainly involved in something horrible, and here I was standing in a strange kitchen acting like a crazy person happily offering her condiments.
    I turned away from her and added the cream and sugar to her cup before handing it to her with a sigh.
    “Sandra,” I started. “We have to talk.”
    She just looked at me, her eyes huge over the rim of her cup. She waited for me to ask her a question.
    “How long were you living at Charlie’s house? Do you remember how you came to be there?
    She took a deep breath before answering.
    “A man came over to me when I was with my friends one day in Lima and told me that I was pretty enough to be a model. He gave me his business card and told me to