The alarm company was sitting on the doorstep when Hannah and her parents finally arrived home the next day. Within a couple hours a top of the line system had been installed. James called to confirm the system was alarmed and to tell her not to worry about the van parked across the street. She moved to the front window and glanced out, sure enough a dark van sat at the curb.
"You know I can't pay for any of this. I thought you said my family wouldn't be at risk."
"I said I didn't think they would be, and I don't, but this is the bastard we're talking about. Until he is behind bars permanently I want to take every possible precaution. Don't worry about the cost, it's taken care of. Just be careful, just in case."
She hung the phone up reluctantly. Her mother checked in on her before her parents went off to bed. She was also exhausted, but feared sleep. Finally she gave up on delaying the inevitable and walked down the stairs to the room she had occupied as a child.
Very little had changed, the same floral wallpaper border and the coordinating quilt on the double bed. The only thing out of place was the half dozen or so carefully labeled cardboard boxes against one wall containing the contents of her small apartment. The sum total of her life's belongings were contained in this room. She yanked the tape off a couple of boxes labeled "clothing" in her mom's neat handwriting and dug through until she found her favorite pair of sweatpants and a ratty T-shirt.
Finally attired in her own clothing for the first time in months she pulled the covers down and crawled into bed.
She woke herself with her screams just a few short hours later. Sitting up she flipped on the small lamp on her nightstand and drew her knees up to her chest, forcing herself to breathe deeply to offset the all encompassing panic. When her heartbeat finally slowed she slipped upstairs, relieved that her parents hadn't awakened. She checked the alarm, comforted by the green light, and peeked out the window again at the dark van. The unseen occupant was faceless, but she knew James would have done his homework and was confident the watcher could be trusted. She just hoped the individual didn't have any vulnerable family members.
---
James pulled into the garage, turned off the car, and let out a deep breath he felt like he'd been holding the entire drive home. He stared at the door to the house with dread. A few short months ago he had walked through the door with an unconscious girl, bruised and battered, in his arms. At that time the girl was just a means to an end and he hadn't felt anything toward her but pity. Now the thought of entering an empty home held no appeal. He was halfway tempted to drive the couple hours back to town and get a room for the night, but eventually he was going to have to face the emptiness. He pushed the door open, stepped inside and nearly fell flat on his face as he tripped over a howling feline.
"Damn cat!"
He followed the cat as it made a beeline toward the empty food bowl in the kitchen. As he dumped a cup of dry food in the dish he realized how upset Hannah must have been to make her forget completely to even ask about the cat. He stared down at the critter, strangely reassured by its presence. He reached down to scratch the cat between the ears.
"Looks like it's just you and me for now Trouble. I guess some company is better than none."
He called before getting ready for bed, but Hannah didn't answer. He left a message telling her the cat was fine and checked in with his security specialist, who assured him everything was quiet. He stared at the ceiling for hours before falling asleep, hoping he could get through the trials without loosing his mind.
----
James should have been relieved at the speed of the proceedings toward the bastard's trial. In reality he was suspicious. Instead of the usual delays on the part of the defendant to allow ample time for witness intimidation there was a demand for a speedy trial. Very out of character for a criminal of the bastard's caliber. He had passed his suspicions onto "the watcher" as Hannah had termed her still faceless security specialist, but everything had been quiet.
As suspicious as he was he was also impatient to see Hannah. For the first two weeks they were apart he'd tried talking with her by phone. She had been distant and distracted, asking only about the cat and shutting down immediately if he asked how she was holding out. Eventually she stopped answering his calls altogether. He'd finally resorted to calling her parents, all they could tell him was their daughter was keeping to herself as much as possible, frequently woke up screaming, and refused to talk about anything more emotional than the weather. He'd considered making a trip to see her in person, but had eventually decided to give her the space she appeared to want.
He was among the first to testify, she was on the end of the list. Having made his statement he was then free to observe the remaining testimonies. The gallery was full, but when Hannah was led to the stand it only took moments for her to locate him in the crowd. Her voice was steady as she outlined in detail the bastard's actions toward her at the compound as well as the events leading up to her abduction and escape. She remained calm under cross examination and as soon as her testimony was finished she walked out of the courtroom with her head held high. He knew where she was staying until the jury's deliberations were in but made no attempt to contact her, though he kept his phone close at hand in case she chose to reach out to him. She didn't.
He sat near the door of the courtroom two days later. Sighed in relief as charge after charge was read aloud, every one of them followed by a guilty verdict. The bastard would spend a very long time in prison, quite possibly the rest of his life. After two years of dedicating every effort to bringing down the bastard for him it was over. Now it was time for him to move on with his life. Unfortunately Hannah still had another trial to get through.
He snagged her as she exited the courtyard, pulling her aside into an empty room, where he asked her to sit down for a moment.
"I know we're keeping our distance until you get through Shawn's trial, but I didn't want to wait to give you this."
He slid a photo across the table in front of her, a blonde haired, smiling toddler in a frilly pink dress. Hannah shook her head in confusion.
"Whose that?"
He looked her over seriously before responding, "It's you."
Hannah laughed nervously. "She's too young, my parents don't have any pictures of me that little."
He reached for her hand, but she pulled it away and placed it in her lap, nibbling her lip.
"I didn't get it from your parents sweetheart. Hannah, I know it's hard to believe after what you've been through but statistically, at least in this country, the odds of being kidnapped are pretty slim. The odds of being kidnapped twice in a lifetime in unrelated circumstances are so minuscule the FBI doesn't even keep those stats. Believe it or not, though, you beat those odds."
He opened the manila file folder on the table and slid another photo over to her, this one a mugshot of a woman with a dead look in her eyes.
"She was your nanny. Your birth parents fired her when they found out she'd been using drugs while you were in her care. That night you disappeared from your crib in the middle of the night. There was a ransom demand, but they never showed to pick up the drop. Who knows what happened.
It was eight months later before they found you at that meth house. She was picked up then, but obviously wasn't about to tell the cops she had kidnapped you. DNA wasn't available back then, and I doubt they even considered checking databases for a missing child."
She was staring at him now, in stunned silence. Finally she responded in a whispered voice, "Where are they?"
He shook his head sadly. "Their marriage fell apart after they lost you. Your birthmother passed away a couple years ago, I'm sorry. I wasn't able to locate your birth father, but there's contact information for his siblings and your mother's sister in the file if you want to talk to them."
She took the file from him with shaking hands. He longed to pull her into his arms to comfort her, but could tell she wouldn't welcome the gesture. He settled for brushing her bangs away from her face before stepping away.
