Of all the weird things I have experienced living in the mind of my idol, I have to say that discovering my childhood friend is related takes the cake! Oh, how I've missed Nissa and her quirky ways. She always had a sarcastic tone to her talk and a brutality to her honesty. She never worried about what people would think of her when she spoke. I wish I could have been more like that when I was alive. Maybe then I could have been brave enough to tell Mom I wanted to stay with Dad. I can't help but think I'd still be alive had I stayed with Dad in Reno. Not that I think Mom had anything to with what happened to me, but... Well, I guess it could have just as easily happened in Reno as it did in Miami.
Sigh. I miss those days in Reno with my friends. Nissa and Jude were the closest friends I've had. I always felt loved and safe with them. I never had to perform for them or do things I was uncomfortable with unlike my friend Amy in Miami. No, Nissa and Jude took me as I was without trying to change me. Ah, Jude. What a babe he was. I remember telling Nissa I wanted to marry him when we all grew up. I made her promise to be my maid of honor. Of course, she agreed and very exuberantly yet sneakily worked on getting us together. Ha ha.
I wonder if he is still in Reno or if something happened to him. I lost contact with both of them about the same time. She said she came here but didn't mention Jude at all. But her babies look just like him. One is his clone while the other has her hair and eye color only. I want to know how and why they got together. Why didn't they tell me about it? I want to ask Nissa, but it would sound strange coming from Jason. I've embarrassed him enough.
'Agreed.' He snarked to me.
'Sorry. I'm trying.'
'I know.' He sighed. 'I think I know a way to ask your friend all of your questions without it being weird.'
*
Dinner was cooked and served outside, which is a first for me. This is by far the biggest family I have ever interacted with. I don't recall Nissa ever mentioning having a big family.
'She didn't know.' Jason thought. 'Or did you forget her reaction to finding out she was related to me?'
'How do you not know how big your family is?' I huffed in confusion.
'Her mother took her away from here when she was very young. According to my wife, Melissa was sent here a few years ago to avoid some trouble.'
'Trouble? What trouble?' I caught a glimpse of Nissa's toddlers running around with the other children screaming in delight and giggling when caught. 'Oh, I get it. She was pregnant. Still, it's weird to think she didn't know about all these people.'
'I think her mother preferred to keep it a secret. None of us knew where she was before then either.'
'Hmmm. Interesting.' Speaking of the devil, Nissa and her mother came to our table with their plates.
"Mind if we join you?" Sarah asked.
"Of course." Jason replied. "It's good to see you again, Sarah."
"You too." He turned his attention to the kids running around the table. "Your kids are cute, Melissa. Is their dad here?"
Her face froze for a moment before her eyes wandered to her children. A hint of sadness crossed her eyes before she answered with a slight sigh. "No."
"Oh, he's at work?" She frowned wither eyes on her food. "Sorry," he added. "I shouldn't have pried."
"No," she said sullenly. "It's okay." She took a deep breath and let it out slowly. "Truth is, last I heard he was going to prison."
"Prison?!"
"It's a long story. We got in a lot trouble together. I was sent here, and he was..." She took a shaky breath. "I haven't actually seen or heard from him in a really long time and I kinda... miss him a little bit."
"Kinda?"
"Yeah, kinda." She smiled. "Okay, a lot. He was my best friend growing up so, yeah I miss my friend." She looked at the kids playing again. "I hope someday he'll get to meet his babies. You know?"
'So, Jude really is their dad.' Jason smiled at her and agreed. "I married my best friend. I couldn't imagine life without her, so I get it. I hope you two can reacquaint when he's out."
"I doubt that will happen," Sarah interjected. "Last we heard, he was looking at twenty-five to life."
'What?!!' I screamed and by the looks on the women's faces, my words must have come out of Jason's mouth. He groaned an apology and rephased my shock into a question. "What did he do?"
They looked at each other before returning their attention. "If you don't mind, I'd rather not talk about it." Melissa confessed.
"But it's a matter of public record so you can look it up online if you really want to know."
"Okay," Jason let the topic go. "I'd better go find my wife. I haven't seen her come for food yet and you know pregnant women shouldn't skip meals."
Sarah giggled. "I think her and George are in the dungeon."
"Dungeon?" There's a dungeon?"
Melissa giggled at this point. Sarah smiled mirthfully. "It's not an actual dungeon. It's just what they call it. Mom can help you out."
Jason got up to find his mother-in-law as I tried to wrap my head around all I just learned.
*
George's eyes read over the information Sarai had brought with her. "It looks like this girl you've been looking into was murdered for her parts."
"That's what I've concluded based on everything I've been able to get my hands on. Look," she opened her encrypted email to show him her latest find. "You remember the friend I told you about some time ago? The Asian mobster girl?"
"I think so. Tiny thing? Cut your legs off at the knees to look you in the eye, girl?"
"That's her. My other friend, the currently missing investigator hired her to be an undercover student at Jessica's school."
"Well, then this case should have been solved already." He quipped.
"Well, yes... and no. She's missing. She disappeared at the end of the school year. From the same house Jessica was last seen in."
"Missing? That don't sound like something that girl would allow. Unless..."
"She wanted to get taken." Sarai finished for him. "I got this email this morning from her father. It's in Mandarin so I can't read it. I recognize this word to mean dragon and this one means, God, I think."
"I can read it. Scoot." He moved to her place and read the message. "She has been rescued from her captors last week. The dragon it refers to is his organization. The people involved have been detained in an undisclosed location. Ummm... let me see... eunichs... deep roots... political... umm. And only God can save them. Case closed?"
"Maybe that side of it. What about her parents? They don't even know she's dead. And if Ming's family is 'taking care' of things, nothing will be public. This won't be exposed. The guilty will simply disappear. Not that they shouldn't, mind you but... No one will come to the justice system and the victim's loved ones will get no closure. Jessica will remain just another missing teen."
"Hmmm. So, what do you propose?"
"I don't know. There's something I'm not seeing. Something that can be used to expose what happened to her and bring closure to the family."
"May I ask why this case has you so worked up?"
"Our house got ransacked. Not long after I left. I haven't told Jason about it yet."
George frowned. "Not good. But also, the first time."
"Haven't told me what?" Jason's voice chimed in from the entry. Guilt was plastered all over Sarai's face.
"U-um." She stammered. "Our house..."
"I know. Jetson called me this morning about it."
"Oh." She breathed a sigh of relief.
"So anyway, I was thinking. Melissa said her kids look like their father more than her."
"Yeah, and..."
"You notice who else they look like?"
"Honestly I haven't paid much attention."
George quirked an eyebrow in thought. "Jenkins?"
"Jenkins." Jason agreed.
"Jenkins?! Like, as in your brother Jenkins?"
"Yep."
"But didn't she say the father's name was Jude? Jenkins' missing son was named Jenkins Jr."
"I know. But it's possible his mother changed his name. You said yourself, it seemed like they ceased to exist when they left. That there was no trace of Cassandra or Jenkins Jr., whether under the last names of Mongomery or Matthews. Maybe she created and adopted new identities for herself and her son."
"I think you're grasping at straws, Dear."
"Maybe. But you can't deny the possibility."
"Jenkins wife and son disappeared when the boy was what four, five?" George queried. "She could have easily changed his name before he started school. That would explain why the has been no record of him attending anywhere in the country."
"Also, doesn't prove he's the boy we've been searching for." Sarai argued.
'Let me offer an opinion' I begged of Jason. He agreed so I spoke through him. "Jude's last name I Hipkins. His mother's name was Sandra. She told us once when we were kids that she was from New York and that Jude's real dad was a lawyer that she ran away. She never said why but she seemed sad when she talked about it. The man Jude called Dad was a scary man. He never let her leave the house and got angry when he found us over there."
George's eyes widened in curiosity. "When 'we' were kids?" He asked Jason. I shrank back 'sorry'. "What do you mean, when 'we' were kids? I watched you grow up."
Sarai put he hand on George's arm. "Let's talk about this later with Mom, okay?"
He looked like he wanted to argue. "But..." He glared between Jason and Sarai's pleading eyes and relented. "Fine. Whatever you say." He huffed as he turned his attention back to the documents on the desk.
My eyes casually scanned over the sheets of paper when a list of numbers caught my attention. As I looked closer, one line read HRT 32 M TN $250,000 Hunter. 'They sold my heart for two hundred and fifty thousand dollars?' I mused.
"What is it, Jason?" George's voice grabbed my attention.
"Oh, this." He said pointing to what I was reading. "This is a record of her parts. This line here... HRT for heart. Sold to 32-year-old male, that's me. TN for Tennessee. That's where I had my surgery. 250 is the price paid for the heart. Hunter is the name of the surgeon that did my surgery." I looked up to see George and Sarai looking at us with wide eyes. I felt Jason's shyness rise. "At least that's what I think. I could be wrong."
Sarai snatched up the paper to reread what Jason had just explained. "That's it! That's what I've been missing!"
"What?" George asked looking at the second sheet of numbers.
"It's and inventory list! It's what they harvested from Jessica to sell. Ha ha. I can't believe I missed this before. You're a genius Jason!" She kissed him too fast for me to react. I'm not gonna lie, it felt good. Like really good. I want to fell that again. 'Okay Jason, go ahead and kiss you wife to little heart's content.' He didn't wit for me to change my mind. He wrapped her in his arms and deepened their kiss.
"Alright, that's enough for now, you two!" George said at the same I thought it effectively separating the lovebirds. "So based on that information we can figure out what was taken and to where it was sold?"
Sarai cleared her throat. "A-hem. Yes, I believe we can. Look, this line here says LKD 15 F FL, so that would mean her left kidney went to a 15-year-old girl in Florida?"
"I think so."
"So maybe we can track down where she was harvested at. Maybe find the doctor responsible." George considered.
"What about her parents? Shouldn't we at least let them know what we've found out?"
"No. We can't just go to her folks and say, 'you don't know me, but your daughter's heart beats in my chest.' That would get us arrested for sure. They would think you were the one to steal it in the first place. You are a big-time celebrity after all. Common folks will be quick to assume the worst about you. No. We have to not only prove what happened to her, but who did it and why."
"Money." Jason said with an eyeroll. "Isn't it always money?"
"Yes, but it's gotta be more than that. This crime saved a lot of lives, not just yours. I'd like to think it had to start out personal."