Chapter 61

Anna
Eight seventeen pm.
"I just can't imagine those two colors together. What do you think Anna?"
Eight seventeen pm.
"Anna, did you hear me?"
Eight seventeen.
"Anna, why are you starring at your phone so hard?"
Eight eighteen. Shit. Still nothing.
"Anna!"
I look over to Laynie as she smirks at me. Shit, how long has she been asking me a question?
"Sorry Lanes. Got a little sidetracked. What were you asking me?"
"Anna, we can do this another day. It really isn't a big deal." Laynie says to me as she looks around at her now empty restaurant.
Yesterday Laynie asked me to come over to the restaurant and help her out with a few things. When I came in today after work she was at one of her tables with her head down, looking at paint samples.
Laynie has been extremely overwhelmed with everything since Maggie's business skyrocketed. She is working nearly seven day a week being the chef and manager. Both Jared and I have told her to hire someone to help manage the place, but she just can't find anyone she trusts. So, here I am, being best friend of the year, ignoring her while she needs me because I can't stop starring at my phone.
Eight nineteen. Nothing. Dammit.
"No, no sorry, I can help you. I guess I was just expecting a phone call or text by now." I say without thinking.
"What? From who?" Laynie asks staring at me with her big brown eyes. To say my best friend of over twenty years is a beauty is an understatement. Laynie Cole is the most beautiful woman that ever graced this Earth. Inside and out.
"It's no one. How about the eggshell white and champagne pink?" I say hoping to dodge the conversation, but my best friend wouldn't be who she was if she were to stop there.
"Oh no. You are going to spill young lady. Between the restaurant being so busy and Jared's business picking up in other states now, we have barely had any sexy time. It's up to you to let me live vicariously through you." She says laughing when I look at her like she has three heads.
Laynie was always a shy person and when Jared moved her out here, it only intensified. She became a shell of her former self. It took her and Jared to battle it out, some therapy from my pervious psychiatrist, and lots of time, but she finally managed to dig herself out of her dark whole. Now she is cursing with the rest of us, all while giving us the same Laynie shy smile we have always loved.
"It's just a guy I've been sort of seeing. I thought he would have called or texted by now, but no such luck. Anyways, what about this Mauve purple and this ivory?" Laynie laughs at my attempt at grabbing the paint samples and meshing them together.
Maggie's has been open for over a year now and although Laynie has never really been into this kind of thing, she knew that if she wanted to keep up with competition she had to define her restaurant under a specific ambience. She chose elegance but much like Laynie Cole, she has no idea what to do with that.
"Anna, why didn't you tell me you were dating? I would love to meet him sometime soon." She says picking up a cherry red paint sample and looking at it seriously.
"Lane, I would love for you to meet him, it's just kind of new between us. Plus, the man hasn't even answered my calls or texts. Can't get him to call me, can't get you to meet him." I shrug as I lie.
I hate lying to Laynie. Always have. In the past I only had to lie to her when she would ask about my parents or my past. If she knew the truth she would never be friends with me and even though I don't have anything to do with that life anymore, at least I didn't until two days ago, I just didn't have it in me to tell her. She doesn't need to know her best friend is a monster.
"Okay, but you will let me meet him if it gets any more serious right?" I nod at her as she points her tiny finger at me.
We get to work and finish the night with a few things checked off her list. Her painters will be here tomorrow to start on the insides. They say it won't take more than an hour to do the insides, but I rolled my eyes when Laynie told me that. Maggie's is huge, by far one of the biggest restaurants I've ever seen, it will defiantly take them longer and because tomorrow is Sunday and the restaurant is closed, it worked out perfectly.
I glance once more time at the picture Laynie and I took on my cell phone of her colors of the paint samples we had chosen. Turns out I know some shit about color themes. Laynie agreed with my choice of the champagne pink and eggshell white. It's elegant without being overly feminine. Tomorrow she will meet with some electricians and more people to interview and since father has still not given me any instructions and I've been too petrified to check my mailbox, I told her I would come and help out for the night.
"You know, Alan is all unpacked and settled at his apartment now. We should stop by and bring him some dinner." Laynie says as we make out way out to the parking lot.
I see her SUV, the one she says she hates driving but does it for Jared since it makes him more comfortable. I don't know if Jared has told her about his dad missing from the FBI's radar but if he is making her drive the SUV, then most likely she does know. Either way I won't say anything first. I know better than to start that conversation.
"Anna? Do you want to?" Laynie says as I pull out my keys for my car.
"I don't think so Laynie. I would love to see him and now that we live so close to each other again, I want to, but I've got so much to do at home." Lie. It seems it's all I can do now.
Before Laynie can say anything else, my phone chimes and I grab it out of my purse so fast I nearly drop it on the concrete floor below us. It's from an unknown number, but it's not a new one. It's one a recognize.
Check your mailbox Belle
My heart skips a beat knowing it's Jed and that he needs me to step up. It also skips a beat because if father knows he is getting a hold of me, and that we are trying to get enough info on the family business to put it under once and for all, then I can't help Jed. I can't check my mailbox. I can't breathe.
"Anna, are you okay? You look like you've seen a ghost." Laynie says bringing me back to the present.
I check the time on my cell phone.
Nine fourteen.
I need to get home.
"Yes, yeah I'm good. I thought it was the guy, it wasn't. I should get home and rest. Been a long day and busy weekend. So, I'll see you tomorrow right?" I tell her but don't wait for a reply. I get in my car, wait for her to get into hers and take off once I see her start the engine.
Halfway to my house I receive a phone call, the sound of my ringtone grows louder as it echoes through the car's stereos. I check the time.
Nine twenty-seven.
I answer the unknown number, the one I have been anticipating and dreading all in the same breath.
"H-hello?" I curse at myself for sounding so weak to this man."
"Annabelle." Father says on the other side.
I wince when I hear the name I was given at birth. Father and mother have always called me Annabelle. It was so robotic that when I got old enough, I had everyone I knew, call me Anna. Annabelle sounded too guarded. Annabelle was the thief, the monster. Anna was the normal girl I craved to be. Anna was Jared's friend, Laynie's bestie and Alan's everything. Annabelle was the monster created by demons that preyed on others.
"I have a job for you." Father tells me as I come to a red light. I glance around my surroundings not liking the fact that I'm the only one at this light. Has this ever been a busy intersection? How close am I to home? My thought process is completely off. I shake my head at my confusion and pull over to the side.
I try to calm my nerves, but nothing seems to be working. I hate father. I hate what he is doing to my mind by simply speaking. I'm keeping things from my friends, I'm lying to my coworkers and I'm avoiding the man that is a threat to my very existence.
"I want you to make a meeting with your brother. I want a meeting with him by next week." This pulls me out of my dizzy spell. This is something I can actually say no to. I have tried over and over again to get a meeting, face to face with Jed since he first started sending me letters in my mailbox, but he has refused each and every attempt.
"Father, he won't see me. I have tried. I have tried everything. He won't have anything to do with me. I can't make a meeting with someone in prison that refuses to see me."
"Figure it out girl. I know that boy Alan is in town. I also know that you have been avoiding him. Have you learned nothing? Just because you aren't speaking with him, or seeing him, doesn't mean I can't fulfil my promise. I expect a phone call to this number by Monday with a time and date, letting me know you have gotten a meeting."
The dial tone greets my speakers next and I slump down into my seat even more. I can't take this. I want to scream, shout, anything that will help take away the pain of my past. It's happening all over again. I have to betray those I love and keep secrets from anyone that gets close to me. Once again, I am alone in a world surrounded by people.

I get home, half an hour later. I decided to drive around a bit before coming back to my apartment. I walk gradually into the building and come to a stop when I see the beguiling golden mailboxes that could easily hold so much and yet nothing at all. I miss the days when I came home, opened the mail, and got nothing but junk mail and the occasionally bill.
I walk slowly over to the box that holds my units mail. Number sixteen is a mere black and white labeled number taped to my box. I hear someone shuffling behind me and know I need to hurry. I make a last-minute decision and grab the mail from inside my box. My typical mail is inside, some junk, some bills, and the clasp envelope that feels me with dread.
I run up the stairs to my unit, still afraid to use the elevator, and run quickly to my door. I look around my apartment and once I state it's clear enough, grab the clasp envelope and walk to my bathroom. I run my bath water, get undressed, and step inside. Once the water is filled up, I turn it off, and grab the clasp envelope. Tearing it open I lay my hand flat out and expect the photos to come falling like they always do. Instead I'm met with a disc. I stare at the blue ink that has the disc labeled. It's Jed's handwriting. I would recognize it anywhere.
Watch it, then burn it
I get out of the tub, get dressed, walk over with the disc and envelope and grab my laptop from my room. I walk back into the living room, set everything down and pace. I pace holes into the ground of carpet. I pace until my legs feel numb. I know I will hate everything that this disc will show me. I know I will hate what I have to do with this disc. I hate what Jed is secretly trying to tell me. I hate that I can't be Anna.
My laptop powers on while I shuffle through my kitchen's liquor cabinet. I grab the vodka bottle that I was saving for New Year's Eve with Laynie and pop the sucker open. Sitting down on my white couch, I pop the disc in and when I see several images and videos pop up, I start chugging.
Photos upon photos of evidence. If Jed wants me to burn it, then he must have copies somewhere. He wants me to see them to keep me fueled on our goal, our mission. I look through all eight seven of them and glance at the time.
Ten forty-six pm.
The time helps me stay focused on my goal. Once I'm done looking at the photos I tap on the video.
I play the video and nearly burst into tears when I see what, or rather who, it is. Jed is speaking with someone, it won't show the face because whoever it is, is of camera. I can't hear them asking him questions, but I can hear his answers. They must have a microphone on him.
The man off camera asks a question, I try to turn up the volume, so I can hear something, anything, but get nothing. Then Jed's answer comes through the speakers.
"The first time was when I was seven. My goal was to run in and grab something, could be anything, but I had to be completely unnoticed."
His eyes look dead, I don't know how recent this video is, because there is no time frame, no clock on the wall behind Jed, nothing. I stare at my clock on the laptop.
Ten fifty-seven pm.
The next questions pop up. I hear muffled voices, perhaps more than one, both males, and await the man I once called my brother, answer.
"I stole a watch. The clerk didn't even see me. No one did. No one ever did."
Jed must be telling them the time of his first trial and error. Father called them that because he would try us out in the real world and then always find something we must have done wrong. A simple theft, but no one knew it was so much more than that. The muffled voice comes back on again and this time I make out one word. Cole.
"He wasn't interested. Back then, he hated father. Father never knew, he assumed Cole liked him enough to continue their business plan, but I could tell. He wanted nothing to do with the family business."
Jed looks over to the camera, face on this time. It feels like he is starring right at me as he says the next sentence. I lean in closely so that I can listen carefully because I know, I just know that Jed is talking to me.
"Cole has disappeared, you know this, but not even father knows where he is. Father will act like he does because he has a lot of control right now, but I plan on taking him down, I plan on father knowing he can't mess with me."
I eject the disc, grab the clasp envelope, and run over to my stove top. After lighting them both on fire and leaving them in the sink, I walk back over to my computer and clear everything out.
I grab my half full bottle of vodka and for the first time in days, I smile. Jed is helping me as well as he can. I have to do the same from my end. Father wants a meet and with Jed's help, the meet may actually help us with something. It's time I started playing this game.