Page 46 of Inevitable Secrets

“Oh, I have some ideas on where I would like to take him,” Derrick admitted. He was sure he could find some dumpster to drop him in between here and home.

“I think I have something,” said Henry, who had been busy texting away. Henry put the SUV in drive and made a sudden U-turn, then a few other quick turns in some very dark areas.

“Where are we going?” Taylor asked Henry.

“Well, we need to take him to a low traffic place to question him,” Henry said, “so that’s what we’re going to do.” Henry drove in silence through more darkened streets. The landscape became more and more run-down around them. Many of the businesses they passed had boarded windows, and the ones that were open looked less than desirable. Finally, Henry pulled into a darkened parking spot. In front of them was a house that sagged, resembling the defeat within the neighborhood around it.

Derrick looked to Taylor who had leaned forward and was taking the building in through the front window. “What is this place?” Taylor asked.

“An old crack den,” Henry answered.

Taylor jerked her head away from the window and back to Henry. “I’m sorry, what?”

“The cops raided this place last week, arrested a bunch of people. They generally watch places like this for a set amount of time and then it’s empty until the users come back.”

“And this is a good place for us because?” Taylor asked letting the last word hang so Henry could fill in the blanks.

“Because the cops are no longer watching it, they have moved on, it has zero chance of having any wiretap devices, and no one around here is going to talk because they don’t want the cops back here at all.”

“If you say so, Henry,” Taylor said, her hand on the door handle.

But Derrick wasn’t nearly as trusting of Henry as Taylor was.

“I’m sorry, but maybe we should wait until daylight to talk to this idiot. Don’t you think that would be safer?” Derrick argued.

“What are you saying?” Taylor asked.

“You know, that maybe you can wait and talk to him in the morning? After you’ve gotten some rest?”

The way Taylor looked back at Derrick, with her eyes bulging and her mouth hanging open, sort of made him feel like he had said something wrong. “Sleep? I can’tsleep,Derrick. I can’t sleep knowing someone is trying to hurt the people I love. I have to get to the bottom of this and he may have pieces to the puzzle that has become my life.” Without further interruption she wrenched the door open and slid out.

Derrick scrambled out after his wife, who was apparently not able to listen to reason.

“Where do we go?” Taylor asked Henry quietly, although if Henry was right, she could have shouted and no one would have cared or paid any attention to them.

Henry pointed towards where the front door used to be, where there was now a piece of plywood. Before it was a set of dilapidated stairs that led to a porch. The porch floor resembled a slice of Swiss cheese, boards broken off in multiple spots. The three of them approached the front porch and Henry grabbed a long plank of wood from the ground, laying it over the brittle steps.

“After you,” Henry motioned for Taylor.

“Gee, what a gentleman,” Taylor muttered. She turned her phone flashlight on as she placed her foot carefully onto the plank, grateful she had worn flats. The board held firm and Taylor teetered her way up, followed by Derrick and finally Henry. Once on the porch surface they moved across it carefully, avoiding broken boards and holes as they went. Henry slid his hand in a gap in the plywood and easily pulled the freshly screwed piece out of the house’s old rotted wood frame.

Taylor slid through the opening and found a space that was more sad to her than frightening. The walls, what was left of them, appeared to have been a light color at one point, but were now discolored dark gray and covered in places with spray paint. Mattresses were everywhere, some against walls, some right next to each other and some in the middle of the room, like stained islands. All of the mattresses were free from sheets and most had the springs coming through them. The saddest part of all was the various dolls and teddy bears that took up residence near the mattresses. Taylor briefly thought of what horrors their owners’ little eyes had seen.

Mick hustled Benson in behind them and brought him to a room in the back of the dwelling. Mick forced him onto a chair that looked as war-torn as the rest of the place, and the fact that it was still standing was incredible. Benson rubbed his wrists where the zip ties had chafed. When Mick saw Taylor, he looked back at Benson. “Remember what I said,” Mick threatened, pointing a finger close to his face.

“Yup, yup, no touching or slit throat,” Benson said nodding, never taking his eyes from Taylor.

Derrick leaned against the wall to the side of the opening, and just watched.

It was dark in the building, but with the meager light from her phone she was able to see the man she’d known as Ben clearly for the first time. He was clean-shaven now, and his hair was shorter, but his eyes were, of course, the same. She had thought those eyes were so amazing once upon a time. Thought nothing could compare to their slight hazel-green edge. But now as she looked at them, she found them extremely dull. They held no flame to the milk chocolate stare of her husband.

“So,” Taylor started but Ben interrupted her.

“First let me just say I am sorry for the snark I was throwing at you before.”

Taylor raised her brow. “Who told you to apologize?” she asked smirking and looking at Mick out the corner of her eye.

“No one,” Ben said. “I was pissed off you didn’t trust me enough to meet me alone, but you were right when you said you were in danger, so I don’t blame you for coming with protection.” And then he shifted his attention to Derrick, “And I deserved that punch, so sorry again.”

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