Page 36 of Bad Situation

Supper had gone well and been more like a pizza party than anything else. Harry had been well-fed and happy. In the morning, the real work would start. Not that what they had done today hadn't been work. Jenna thought it hadn't seemed they'd done enough, or at least she hadn't. They all turned in or left to go elsewhere. Harry had asked to stay, and she'd magicked a room where she wanted. Unsurprisingly, she'd stayed in the nearly empty room and asked to look through the closet in the morning. Jenna couldn't deny that she also wondered what was in the closet.

The next day, breakfast finished off a lot of the stuff in the refrigerator. She didn't worry about shopping because the cook said that a local grocery store delivered for free when the order was over a certain amount, which it always was. Harry looked like she'd slept well and was in good humor.

“Now that I am finally full, let's go to that closet and see what's hiding there," Harry said excitedly. "You'll let me keep that room while I'm here, won't you?”

“If you want it. We'll do the pet room next because I know there are some things in there you'll want for Chaos," Jenna observed.

They headed down the hall to the room they'd been discussing. After they entered, Harry threw open the door, which bounced on the wall.

“Oops. I didn't mean to do that, but it doesn't look like there's any damage.”

Harry immediately waved in a box that had been sitting on top and moved to the floor. She opened the lid, which seemed to contain a pile of clothing. It was older clothing, probably not in style, but Harry dug through the box excitedly.

“What's this?” She dug out a box full of pictures, and they looked through them.

“I think George kept trophies.”

“What?” Harry dropped what she was holding.

“You might as well keep going because we need to find out what's in here. Knowing what happened to their loved one may set some families at peace," Jenna suggested.

“Okay, but this isn't going to be fun anymore. Maybe it's just the box on top?”

They went through several boxes, each seeming dedicated to a different person. The pictures told the story. At first, they were happy pictures or at least not unhappy pictures. Then, some pictures showed abuse and mistreatment. Finally, the last pictures were of their dead bodies. It even showed where the body was placed before the space was filled. This had gone on for so long, and no one had done anything. Jenna felt bad because she might have taken action sooner when she was older.

“We need to give these to Damon," Harry observed.

“We do, but let's get through the last boxes first. It makes me wonder which is my mother and which is Grant's mother.”

“Hey, I'm so sorry you're having to deal with this, and it's such a difficult time.”

“What's this? It looks like a letter. I can't believe it. This is a letter Grant’s grandmother sent to the council, and they gave itto this monster. Maybe we should get Damon right now. Can you find him?” Jenna asked.

“I'll get him," Harry agreed, and she was gone in a flash.

It wasn't long before she was back with Damon and Marissa.

“Show me what you have!” Damon demanded.

Jenna handed him the letter first. It was one thing to show someone accused of a crime the letter that started an investigation but to give it to them was wrong on so many levels. After he read it, she showed him the box.

“He was keeping trophies of his victims. So far, we have only found boxes containing what you would consider women's items. There are so many bone chips in that pile there wouldn't be room for any of the men's items in this closet. I don't know if he kept them," Jenna explained.

“They've probably gotten complaints on George for fifty years, and some councilmen protected him and let him continue the evil he was doing. This must be shown to the council if they consider harboring a monster and allowing him to continue his actions. Most of the ones that could have been involved in this are probably gone. If any of them are left, I intend to have someone watching them closely to ensure that this doesn't happen again," Damon assured.

Poor Damon. He was always busy while some of the other councilmen did nothing, and when they did do something, it was usually bad. There was a small group that Damon put to work that helped him with some of the issues that needed to be taken care of, but it wasn't nearly enough.

“This particular box is from Grant’s mother. I haven't found one for my mother yet. If there is one, it's not in this closet,” Jenna admitted. “This is really the first closet that we've looked in, and that is only because Harry was staying in here, and I had considered turning it into an office. It will take some time tocheck the storage rooms and closets, not to mention the attic and the basement," Jenna explained.

“If you finish going through things and get it sorted out, I have wardens on the way to pick it up. They were nearby anyway. I intend to present this to the council. If you find anything else like this, we will handle that too. I know this is difficult, but maybe you can talk about it when your grandmother gets here, and it will help.”

Damon looked so sympathetic she just wanted to cry. Harry and Marissa came forward and gave her a hug. George had been a monster, and while Jenna had been around people who weren't nice, she saw a side of life that she never wanted to see. This would be hard for Grant when he found out what his mother had been through. Jenna thought the way he looked at it was that his mother had just abandoned him, but Jenna didn't think that she had felt able to leave. George sunk his hooks into her. Once he did, he would never have let her go. Grant's mother had wanted him to live, and had she gone with him, George would have come after them, and eventually, Grant would have died.

They finished going through the boxes, and there were personal items from 15 females, whereas there had only been 12 bodies. So, what did that mean? Were there three more hidden somewhere? Had he let the three go, or had they escaped? Harry moved the boxes to the front door, where she stacked them neatly, waiting for the wardens.

“I'm sorry you had to go through this with me, Harry. You've been through so much yourself with the blood drugs. You've got to be one of the nicest people ever," Jenna observed.

“It's part of life, and friends, you're one of the best parts of it. I hope if something like this ever happens to me, I have a friend standing beside me," Harry observed.

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