"This appears to be a note that Lalie wrote to Marcia... and it's exactly what I'm afraid of," she said slowly as she sat down on the edge of the tousled bed. "I think I know where Lalie is, though it's only a hunch."
A look of panic washed over Carole's face as she put both of hands over her mouth, trying not to tear up.
"Where do you think she is?" Harold managed to ask, a wide range of emotions going through his head.
"Adelyn," Kevin started softly as he walked over toward her. "Does this have anything to do with that street we were talking about?"
"What street?!" Carole screamed in frustration. "Please tell me!"
Adelyn sighed, obviously pained. "A while ago I was involved with this case that involved a crime ring. Well, this whole ring was being run out of this one crime genius' basement. His house was on Summit Avenue and let's just say it doesn't bring back fond memories." She stopped for a second and then looked up at Lalie's friends and family. "Like I said before, Lalie might not be even involved with this house, I mean the criminal genius will be behind bars for a long time, but I just have this gut feeling..."
Kevin, Carole and Harold exchanged worried glances when they heard Adelyn's story.
"Adelyn, is there a way that you could find out if my daughter is being held there?" Carole asked, as she regained her composure.
Before Adelyn could even answer, Kevin cut into the conversation. "Marcia lied," he started with an angry tone. "She said that Lalie didn't say where she was going in that note."
To that, Adelyn's ears perked up. "Marcia lied about the note?"
"What are you talking about?" Harold asked, as all eyes were on Kevin.
"She said that Lalie didn't mention where she was going," Kevin replied as he looked at everyone in the room. "Come to think of it, she didn't even show us the note. She just told us what it said."
"You had every reason to believe her," Adelyn assured Kevin. "Why would someone lie about that?" she continued, though she knew the answer. Marcia was up to something.
Lalie and Tony sat on opposite sides of the room in silence. Not a word was spoken since Marcia had left. It was time for someone to break the ice.
"Oh, my God!" Lalie yelled out in frustration as she leaned her head against the wall.
Tony glared at her. "What is it?" he asked.
"How could Marcia do this?" Lalie asked him, still sitting on the floor across from Tony. "We don't even know if Marcia is going to come back."
"She'll come back," Tony assured her.
"How can you be so sure?" Lalie demanded to know in a nervous tone. "She might just go back to Pennsylvania and leave us here."
Tony didn't know what to believe… but he walked over to Lalie and sat directly in front of her.
"We'll make it out of here," Tony told her in a serious tone.
"Why should I trust anything you say?" Lalie asked as she shook her head and looked away from her. "I don't even know why I'm expressing my concerns with you! You're as guilty as she is!"
"Look at me," Tony ordered as Lalie complied. "I was never going to leave you in here to fend for yourself. I was always going to come back. You never had to worry about that with me."
A few tears came to Lalie's eyes. "That was you," Lalie told him. "Marcia is the one pulling the strings now."
Tony looked at her and didn't respond.
"Why, Tony?" Lalie asked him in a sad tone. "Why did you listen to her and keep me in here just so she could get me out of the way?"
"She made me feel special," Tony slowly replied. "I never felt like I belonged. I've always had a lack of communication with my two brothers and one sister. I felt like things never went my way. You could say that I wanted to be appreciated. Marcia made me feel like that and I would have done anything for her," he told her as he opened up to her.
"You didn't need to hold someone hostage to be appreciated," Lalie softly and politely told him.
"I just wanted to please her, you know?" Tony asked, as he looked toward the door, just waiting for anyone to come through.
Lalie didn't know what to say to that. "What are we going to do, Tony?" she asked him in a hopeless tone. "What if she never comes back?"
"Well," Tony started as he felt his pocket. "I did have something for you to pass the time in here… but when you tricked me earlier, I changed my mind about giving it to you."
"You brought me something?" Lalie asked as she widened her eyes, wanting to see what it was. "Forget about earlier, it didn't benefit either one of us!"
"Well, you said that you wanted to play Solitaire," Tony replied as he reached into his pocket and pulled out a deck of cards and handed it to her. "There I go trying to please people again," he sighed in disappointment. "Look where it got me," he noted as he looked around the room.
Lalie held the deck of cards and put her hands in her face, laughing and crying at the same time. "I appreciate that," Lalie sincerely told him, as she looked up at him. "See? I appreciate it!" she reiterated as she still held onto the deck of cards, coughing a few times from the laughing and crying. "It's something small like this that puts a smile on my face."
"Little things like that," Tony stated as he looked at Lalie's smile.
"Are all kidnappers this nice, or did I just luck out?" Lalie asked as she quickly laughed in embarrassment that she had even said that.
"Should I take that as a compliment?" Tony asked her with a subtle laugh, rhetorically.
"Take it as whatever you want," Lalie nicely told him as she looked up at him and took the deck of cards out of the box and began to shuffle them. "Even if Marcia doesn't come back tonight… I'm not alone."
Chapter 21
Non-Nsync {Fiction}
I'll Never Stop {Fiction}
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