AllFreeNovel
Share Us
She stepped intothe last room at the end. It was a giant bedroom, Laid out on the bed were anelegant dress, along with a bra and panties. Just beyond that were french doorsleading to a bathroom. She made her way over.
When she got tothe threshold, she took in the scene. Ryan was just in front of her, his weaponpointed at a closet door that was cracked slightly open. In that small slit,Jessie could see the face of Danielle Robertson, hidden behind a gas mask.
“How’s it going inhere?” she asked as nonchalantly as she could under the circumstances.
“Oh, hey, Honey,”Ryan said, not turning around. “I was just talking to Danielle, who hasrequested that we call her Junior instead. She tells me that she has her fingeron a remote control device that will activate a canister on the counter,releasing poison gas. I was letting her know that I thought that a bad idea.”
Jessie glancedover at the vanity countertop and saw a familiar metal canister sitting justbehind a bottle of mouthwash. It was less than five feet from her.
“Okay, good toknow,” Jessie said, trying to adopt the relaxed tone that her husband hadcultivated. “Junior, how are you doing?”
“I’ve beenbetter,” the young woman shouted back, her voice muffled by the mask. “Thingsdidn’t go how I was hoping here.”
“You were hopingto kill Sienna Ford,” Jessie confirmed, “just like Avery Sinclair and the otherclients we talked to you about this morning,”
“She had itcoming,” Danielle said with righteous certainty.
“What exactly didshe do wrong?” Jessie wondered.
Danielle sighedheavily, as if explaining the enormity of the woman’s crimes was a burden shecould hardly bear.
“She was twistingher daughter into something ugly, just like all those other mothers were doingto their children,” she said, the venom clear through the mask. “If I didn’t dosomething to change things, all these kids were going to reach the point of noreturn, when they couldn’t be salvaged. There’s still time for them, but notwith these women guiding them.”
And all at once,Jessie understood. Her theory had only been half right. She thought thatDanielle was targeting these women because they reminded her of the mean girlswho had made her youth such a living hell. But this wasn’t just aboutvengeance.
In her ownunhinged way, Danielle thought she was helping, trying to prevent the cyclethat had destroyed her childhood from repeating itself, with the very childrenshe’d been tasked to help. Something had set her off, causing her to believethat she had to act now to prevent the kids she tutored from becoming someoneelse’s torturer, if they weren’t already.
“I get it,” Jessiesaid.
“Sure you do,”Danielle spat back sarcastically. “It all makes sense to you.”
“No, I can’tpretend to understand everything you’ve gone through, Junior,” Jessie repliedgently, “but I can imagine what led you to this place. Let me try. You werebrutally, relentlessly attacked every day when you were young, by girls whoprobably grew up to be just like your clients. They pushed you to the brink,taunted you, saying you should end your own life. And when you finally foughtback. you were the one who got punished. You were sent away. How am I doing sofar?”
“So you got accessto my records,” Danielle scoffed. “Big deal, that doesn’t mean you know me.”
“No, of coursenot,” Jessie conceded. “But I want to. I want to understand why a young womanwho managed to overcome such obstacles and went on to such a promising futureended up in this position.”
“Are you kidding?”Danielle shot back. “I’m rescuing these children. That’s a pretty greatposition to be in. The world might not comprehend it right now, but historywill.”
“But who’s goingto rescue you?” Jessie asked. “Right now, you’re locked in a prison ofyour own creation. You insist on being called by the hateful, insulting namethose girls gave you all those years ago, rather than your own beautiful one.Instead of countering these mothers’ insidious life lessons with your ownempathetic ones, you’ve turned them into martyrs in the eyes of their kids, andyou into the monster that can’t be trusted. Surely that isn’t what you wanted.And now you’re threatening to kill two people who haven’t wronged you or harmedany children.”
“There’s stilltime for you to do that,” Danielle muttered.
“Maybe,” Jessietold her, deciding now was as good a time as any to be completely honest. “Idon’t even know if I want to have children. Truthfully, I’m worried that I’dscrew them up, that I’d pass on all my fears and failures to them. I have a lotof them. But one thing I know for sure is that if I was ever in that position,I’d try my damnedest to do right by them, to keep them safe, and to give them a brighter childhood than the one I had. Andthe man standing next to me isn’t just my partner. He’s my husband. And I knowhe feels the same way. Are you going to deny us that chance because your planhas fallen apart? Are you going to make our hearts stop beating in our chestsbecause we got in the way of your attempt to turn children into orphans? Is thatwhat you really want, Danielle?”
“Call me Junior!”
“I won’t do that,”Jessie said, ignoring Ryan, who visibly stiffened beside her. “That’s a namegiven to you by people who don’t deserve to have power over you anymore. Youare not Junior or Chip. You’re Danielle, a brilliant young woman who wants todo the right thing and made some terrible choices in the service of what shethought was an honorable path. There’s still time to salvage the real Danielle.Come out of that closet. Turn yourself in. Tell your story at your trial. Letthe world know what can happen when kids are put through what happened to you.You can be a cautionary tale and a source of hope for a different future. Youcan still make a difference in the world, maybe not in the way you thought, butstill valuable, still meaningful. Please, Danielle.”
Jessie stoppedtalking. She didn’t know what to say. They waited silently for the woman’sdecision, both aware that if she made the wrong one, they likely couldn’t getout of that bathroom in time to avoid the effects of the poison.
After what feltlike an eternity, she pulled open the closet door and lifted her hands in theair. Neither Jessie nor Ryan made a move as they both saw that the remotecontrol was still being held in her right hand.
She walked towardthem, her heavy breathing fogging up the mask she wore, then stopped just feetaway. She extended the hand with the remote control, her finger still on thetrigger button. Then she gently rested the remote on the vanity countertop,pulled the mask off and dropped it on the ground. Her glasses were covered incondensation and her curly, sandy-colored hair was limp. She interlaced herhands behind her head and dropped down to her knees.
“I officiallysurrender,” she said.
“That’s good,”Jessie told. “Now Detective Hernandez is going to handcuff you and read youyour rights, okay?”
