Fear Thy Neighbor (79)
“Yes, please.” Kit sat down in one of the chairs, his large presence overpowering the small space.
“Two black coffees,” she said as she placed a cup in front of him, then sat across from him.
They spent the next hour discussing yet again the events that had changed so many lives, especially her own.
The story unfolded once Kit’s friend read what was on Gib’s hard drive. In great detail, he’d written about how he’d come to despise Hal and his twin sister, who died when his wife Rosa gave birth to them. In his mind, all little girls were evil. Little girls like Jane, and little Sofia Carillo, who spent years lying in a morgue, waiting to be identified. When the Fort Charlotte Sentinel, along with the Miami Journal, published the details of the case, Natalia and George Carillo finally came forward to claim their daughter’s remains.
Both were undocumented immigrants who had been working on Matlacha Pass near Ali’s cottage. Their daughter had been missing, yet they were afraid to report her disappearance because they weren’t in the country legally. DNA testing on the bones that had been discovered proved little Sofia and Jane’s identities. Val and John paid for a proper burial for the family. Kit contacted a friend, who was working with the Carillos to gain them legal citizenship. It would take a while. The couple, who had other children born in Miami, agreed to abide by rules set forth in the process, and would begin working legally for Kit’s father and stepmom in a matter of weeks. The screaming little girl Ali had almost killed Hal and Gib over was understandably traumatized, but Ali had learned through Kit that she was getting the proper therapy and had been reunited with her family. Gib and Hal had temporarily stashed her at the bait shop, knowing John was away in Orlando, until they could secretly move her to the motel.
So many changes in such a short time. Ali had moments where she didn’t believe the evil on this island was truly over. Betty and Tank were part of Gib’s cult. Tons of literature on Cyrus Teed’s cult and their practices were found on Gib’s computer, now in the hands of the FBI’s forensics team. Betty and Gib were more than friends. She joined him in his sick mission after Tank was old enough to take care of himself, though Tank denied any knowledge of the cult and their activities.
Soon, Kit left, promising he’d return the next morning. Ali knew it was still hard for him to spend time at her cottage, knowing his sister Jane had been buried there for so many years. They had both agreed to take things slowly, and that was just fine with her.
Ali’s thoughts were all over the place. She knew the investigation was just beginning. There were more folks involved in the cult. Ali still didn’t understand why Hal and Gib had tried to kill her specifically. Betty had indeed laced her hot tea with Ambien that fateful night. The toxicology report said it was enough to knock out a three-hundred-pound man. Hal had dragged her to Gib’s place; they then took her back to the hotel, where Betty gave her another dose of Ambien.
After her arrest, Betty swore Gib had threatened to kill her if she didn’t follow his orders. He wanted little girls, and apparently young women, too, so he could torture them, then bury them. At least, that’s what she’d told the FBI.
Alison and her ability to know when to run when she felt she was in danger had saved her life again. But from now on, she wouldn’t live in the past. She would move forward.
She had two good friends now in Val and Tammy, plus Kit, who’d stolen her heart. Renée was like a little sister. John seemed thrilled now that Val acknowledged him, and agreed the past was in the past. Together, they’d do their best to raise their daughter.
Many of the things that had taken place in such a short amount of time were beyond Ali’s ability to explain. Yet she decided that now, all she wanted was to spend time in her little yellow cottage. For the first time in twenty-nine years, she had a home of her own.