Chapter 28: Lydia

It had been two weeks since Drake had proposed to Lydia. Two weeks at sea with Dianne mumbling under her breath calling Lydia a trollop and a gold digger amongst other names. Two weeks of Lydia wondering why Drake would take this arrangement so far, but never having the chance to ask him why. Today was their last day at sea before they reached Turks and Caicos and Lydia was hoping to find sometime alone with Drake, but unfortunately that wasn’t the case. Madilyn had arranged a formal dinner with the captain, stating she had a big announcement to make and she wanted everyone present.

Lydia was in their cabin trying to find a dress to wear for the night when Drake walked in a disheveled look on his face.

“What’s the matter?” Lydia asked.

Drake ignored her as he walked into the cabin, looking around, until he noticed Jessica in her room, before he grabbed Lydia, by the arm and dragged her into the bathroom, turning on the water to the sink and shower.

“Drake, what is going on.” Lydia hissed, getting fed up with his secrecy.

“I’ve had my personal P.I. Martin, looking into the disappearance of Amelia.” Drake said his face turning a pale white.

“And?” Lydia asked, bringing her hand up to caress Drake’s arm, knowing that whatever he was going to tell her next wasn’t good news.

“On the day Amelia disappeared, my father hired two illegal aliens to dispose of some waste. He advised them that if they ever spoke about that night he would have them deported back to their country. Well Raphael, one of the men he had hired, gained his citizenship last year, and he was more than willing to provide information to Martin, for a cost. He wanted to put his children through private school, but he couldn’t afford the cost, with his and his wife’s income. I paid their tuition in full just last night and Martin visited with Raphael today in a secure location.” Drake responded.

“Okay, and what did Raphael have to say?” Lydia asked, signs of worry on her face. Where they on a cruise ship with cold blooded killers, was her life at risk for her association with Drake.

“The waste that Raphael and his coworker were assigned to dispose of, was a rug that used to sit in the foyer of the Whittenberg Mansion. The rug was bloody and rolled up, Raphael stated that it felt to heavy to be just a rug. He didn’t want to peek inside and see what they were actually getting rid of but his coworker, he was curious. When they made it to the drop of location, a secluded barren area, Raphael’s partner began to unravel the rug, inside was a sight that disturbed Raphael…” Drake’s voice began to tremble before he could go further.

“What was inside the rug?” Lydia asked wanting Drake to continue.

“It was a doll, a mannequin, who’d been dipped in red paint, and had it’s throat slashed open with a knife.”

Lydia soon began to realize that Drake’s voice wasn’t trembling because he was upset and worried that his father had committed murder, no Drake was outraged and angry, by the fact that there was so much evidence indicating a coverup for Amelia’s murder, but no evidence indicating that a murder had indeed occurred.

“Why did the mannequin disturb Raphael so?” Lydia inquired, running through her mind the facts that Drake had given her.

“Because the blood was real, he could smell the iron. Someone had deliberately dipped the mannequin in red paint to try and cover up the blood.”

“Does Raphael remember where they dropped off the mannequin?”

“Yes, Martin went to the location and scoured around it trying to find any evidence of the mannequin or the rug, but there was nothing left. Either animals had gotten to it, or after all these years it had started to decompose.”

Lydia knew that decomposition to longer than that, but this wasn’t the time to correct Drake.

“So what happens now?” Lydia asked.

“Martin will continue to look into Amelia’s past and see if she had any family nearby that can account for her disappearance.” Drake responded, but Lydia couldn’t help but wonder if there was more on Drake’s mind. It seemed like he was keeping something from her.

“What else did you find out?” Lydia asked, pushing Drake for more information.

“It’s about you,” Drake responded, a worried look on his face.

Lydia felt her face pale, Drake knew everything about her past and her current situation, what could have him so worried now.

“I had my IT guy put a trace on your name, before I introduced you to the family. That way if anyone tried to dig into you, it would alert me. He also added some fake information about you only. Two weeks ago, a man named Mark, tried to pull your information. My IT did a backtrack on Mark's IP address and it came up as a location in Spain, meaning Mark set up a router to reroute his IP location so we can’t trace him.”

“Who do you think wants information on me?” Lydia asked.

“I’m not sure.” Drake responded. “It could be my mother. She was pissed about the proposal.”

“Speaking of which, are we ever going to talk about that?” Lydia inquired.

Drake looked at her hesitantly and just when he was beginning to explain himself to her they were interrupted.

“HEY LOVEBIRDS.” Jessica yelled to be heard over the running water. “IF YOU DON’T GET OUT NOW, YOU’LL BE LATE FOR MADILYN’S DINNER.”

“We will talk more about this later,” Drake said reaching to turn off the water,” I promise.

Lydia nodded her understanding to Drake before slipping her head out of the bathroom to make sure Jessica wasn’t waiting around the corner before heading to their room to get dressed. Drake wasn’t far behind her. She quickly slipped on a red evening gown and some white pumps, before putting on a pearl necklace and earrings, doing her hair in a quick updo. Drake had managed to dress himself in a record amount of time as well, wearing black suit pants and a red button up dress shirt to match Lydia, he quickly ran his hands through his short hair to give it that messy style look, before grabbing Lydia’s hand and escorting her out of the cabin and into the formal dinning room, located beside the ballroom.

Madilyn was standing at the head of the table, awaiting the arrival of Drake and Lydia.

“Ahh, perfect timing.” Madilyn cried jumping up and down with joy, it took some getting use to, but Lydia soon realized that Madilyn was a normal peppy go lucky individual.

“Madilyn.” Drake said nodding his head towards the future bride.

“I am so glad you guys are here!” Madilyn replied, “ I have a proposal, I know you’re newly engaged and what not, but I think it would be wonderful if we all got married together in the Bahamas.”