Page 20 of Abigail
“Straw- the admiral’s tone is sharp bringing Straw to full attention- “What’s your connection to Abigail? How do you know her?”
“Like you said, Sir, it’s a complicated situation,” Straw answers honestly. “It’s not something to discuss over the phone. Perhaps we can all sit down soon.”
“Yes, that sounds like the best option,” the admiral concedes. “I’ll be in touch as soon as I hear from her.”
“Thank you, Sir,” Straw replies and Hawk disconnects the call. Now there’s nothing to do but wait. Straw determines that if the Admiral takes too long to call back, he will go to Abigail’s apartment himself and make sure she hasn’t run. He just can’t lose her again.
CHAPTERSEVENTEEN
By the time dawn arrives, Abigail is exhausted, and her home has never been so clean. She’s still just as troubled and worried as she’d been when she’d gotten home last night. No answers have come to her as she’s cleaned the apartment top to bottom and then some. She calls Brent to let him know she won’t be in this morning. Needless to say, he isn’t happy, but apparently Robert’s ‘talks’ with him have made an impact, because he doesn’t yell at her or threaten to fire her, so that’s progress.
She begins preparing some oatmeal, sausage, and scrambled eggs for Ellie’s breakfast. She’s contemplated packing up everything and running for it again, but she doesn’t want that kind of life for her daughter. Abigail is having faith that the admiral will be true to his word and not take Ellie from her or have her thrown in jail. Although something has been nagging at her all night, well several things actually, but one more curious than the others. If they reestablish a connection, won’t the police be able to track her down? Surely they are still looking for her, and she hasn’t really hidden all that well. She’s still using her own name and social security number. If they really wanted to find her, they could have easily done it. She’s never had the funds to buy fake identification. That stuff isn’t cheap or as easy to come by as they make it look in the movies.
The same thoughts and questions have been on repeat all night. She just wants to scream in frustration because nothing is making any sense. She’s a ball of nerves, and to make matters worse, Robert has been on her mind. She feels like she should call him and ask him to go with her to meet the admiral, but that’s crazy, right? They don’t know each other all that well, but she can’t deny the connection she’s felt to him from the moment she’d laid eyes on him. He makes her feel safe, secure, and he’s helped calm her when she’s been anxious. What is it about him? Why does she feel she can trust him?
Her gaze is drawn to the slip of paper with his number on it. She found it in one of her work-jacket pockets when she was doing laundry in the wee hours of the morning. It’s been calling to her ever since. Begging for her to pick it up and dial the number on it. She’d gone so far as to throw it in the trash, but she’d fished it back out. She can’t explain why, but her instincts are telling her to reach out to him. He’ll know what to do, how to help, of that she is certain.
However, every time she almost calls, doubt creeps in and causes her to put her phone back down. How can she tell him what happened all those years ago? How will he react to what she’s done? How can she expect him to believe her that she hadn’t intended to kill Todd? He will surely hate her for being a murderer even if it was in self-defense. She continues to work on breakfast as another thought occurs to her. Robert’s military. He’s likely killed many times over, and perhaps he’s just the person to understand her situation and not judge her. She again reaches for her phone when she hears her daughter’s sweet voice.
“Momma!” Ellie’s precious voice echoes down the hallway from her room. Abigail lays the phone back on the counter next to Robert’s number, and after turning off the stove, she hurries to check on her daughter. “Momma!” Ellie shrieks. The fear in the child’s voice has Abigail running to her child’s room.
“Good morning, sweet girl,” Abigail coos to her daughter as she enters her daughter’s room. She’s shocked to see the girl is crying. “What’s wrong, honey?” Abigail hurries to the bed to gather the child to her. She sits on the bed, pulling Ellie into her lap as she begins to rock and rub her hand down the child’s back in a soothing motion.
“I had a bad dream,” Ellie wails, breaking Abigail’s heart at the anguish she hears in the child’s voice.
“Oh, now, now,” Abigail soothes. “It was just a dream. Nothing bad is going to happen. You want to tell Momma all about it?” Ellie shakes her head violently. Abigail sits and rocks her child for several minutes until she begins to calm down somewhat. Ellie doesn’t have bad dreams very often, so Abigail is overly concerned about the child’s obvious fear. Abigail has worked hard to protect her child from anything violent or scary, so she can’t figure out what would have caused the child to have a bad dream. Finally Ellie is calm, and she seems ready to talk.
“You ready to tell Momma about it now?” Abigail coaxes the little girl.
“I can’t tell you ‘bout my dream ‘til I eat breakfast,” Ellie says sadly, fresh tears trailing down her cheeks.
“Hmm, why’s that?” Abigail asks the child.
“Sara says if you tell a dream before you eat, it’ll come true,” Ellie explains, like her mother is completely ignorant when it comes to the rules about telling dreams. “So, you tell good happy dreams, but the bad ones you don’t tell until after you eat.”
“Oh, I see,” Abigail replies in a knowing manner as if the child has just imparted some great wisdom to her. “I guess it’s a good thing I’ve about got breakfast ready then.” Abigail smiles when the child’s face lights up in excitement. She gets up out of Ellie’s bed and sits the child down on her feet. “Here let’s get you dressed.” Abigail grabs the clothes she laid out during her night time cleaning activities. She quickly changes Ellie out of her princess night gown and dresses her in blue jeans and a purple unicorn, short sleeved t-shirt. “Come in the kitchen and we’ll eat. Then you can tell me your dream, okay?” Abigail is pleased when the child nods happily and hurries into the hall to go to the bathroom.
Abigail goes back into the kitchen to finish the breakfast as she waits for Ellie. She grabs her phone to let Sara know she won’t need her to babysit today. After she shoots off the text, she stares at Robert’s card again. Biting her lower lip in indecision, she stares at her phone. She knows her time is running out to call the admiral, but she’s still afraid. She’s afraid of so many things: what the admiral has to say, Robert’s rejection when he learns the truth about her, losing Ellie. All this has her totally freaking out, but her gut is telling her to call Robert and put her trust in him. He’ll understand and not judge her. She finally decides to call the admiral first, and once they have a time and meeting place, she’ll call Robert. With that monumental decision out of the way, she calls the Admiral before she can chicken out.
“Admiral Jenkins,” the man’s gruff voice comes across the line. Fear assaults her, and no words will come out. “Hello?” the admiral asks. Finally she manages to get herself under control.
“Admiral, it’s Abigail,” She manages to squeak out. There’s a pause and she’s uncertain if she should say something else, but he breaks the silence before she can think of anything to say.
“Abigail,” he says on a sigh as if he’d been afraid she wasn’t going to call. “Thank you for calling,” the admiral’s voice has softened, and it puts her somewhat at ease. “I was a little worried I had upset you last night, and you might avoid me. It’s been brought to my attention that you called off work, this morning. Are you and Ellie, okay?” Abigail can hear the concern in the man’s voice.
“Oh, we are fine,” Abigail says hurriedly to assure him. “I felt it would be better to not be at my place of work when we have our talk.” It suddenly occurs to her that he might think she does this often and isn’t that good of a mother after all. “I don’t normally call off work. I’ve only missed one day in the last year before today and that was only because Ellie had a stomach virus.”Lord! What’s gotten into her?She’s suddenly developed diarrhea of the mouth, but she doesn’t want him to think she is the kind of person who skips work for just any ole reason.
“I understand, Abigail,” the admiral assures her. “I was hoping we could have breakfast. If you don’t want to meet at the hotel, we’ll meet wherever you suggest.” Abigail begins to mentally run through possible public safe meeting spots. While she doesn’t believe the Admiral will physically harm her, it’s just not a good idea to meet someone you don’t know all that well in a secluded spot.
“I’ve already cooked breakfast,” Abigail begins. “I can meet you in an hour at Shoreline Park on Shelter Island Drive. Are you familiar with it?”
“Yes, I know where it’s at,” the admiral answers. “I think that’s a great place to meet. There’ll be plenty of room for Ellie to play while we talk. Umm…I got an interesting phone call this morning. I’m not sure if I should bring this up, but Hawk called this morning. He is somewhat aware of the events that happened in South Carolina. I noticed how much Ellie enjoyed playing with Hawk and Charlotte’s children. Would you mind if I ask them to meet us there? They can keep an eye on Ellie while we talk. I don’t know your relationship with Straw, but he’s very concerned about you. I thought you might want someone there to support you as we discuss the past. I know this will be painful, and I’d like to make it as easy for you as I possibly can.”
Abigail is stunned into silence. She’s floored that Hawk has called the admiral on her behalf. It seems Robert is worried about her. How do they know about her connection to the admiral? It is just too much to comprehend.
“I…I don’t know what to say,” Abigail admits. “How do they have any idea we are connected?”
“I’ve known Hawk a number of years,” the admiral begins. “He knows I’ve been searching for you and Ellie, but I’ve never disclosed your names. It seems Straw followed you to the parking lot last night and saw us speaking. I guess they put two and two together.” Terror the likes of which she’s only felt a few times in her life comes crashing down on her. Robert knows she is a murderer. She can’t depend on him for help. A sob escapes her before she can get herself under control.
