A Necessary Evil(39)

Chapter 20




Mollie



It was near midnight, and Mollie was still wide awake. Not only had she been through hell the past couple of days, but her journal was missing.

Mollie didn’t want to be alone. She knew her mother probably wanted to spend some time with her, but as much as she loved Kitty, Mollie knew she would smother her. She just needed some companionship, not overzealous mothering, so she called Laurel, who promised to be there in less than half an hour. As she waited for her best friend to show up, Mollie lay across her bed staring at the tiny glow-in-the-dark stars she’d stuck to her ceiling when she was eight. They seemed juvenile now, but in a strange way, they brought her comfort and reminded her that she was safe.

“Mollie?” Laurel’s voice came floating across the room.

Mollie sat up and saw her childhood friend rounding the steps and walking toward her with her arms extended, ready to hug her. Without hesitation, Mollie flung herself from her bed, across the room, and into Laurel’s warm embrace. The two friends stayed in each other’s arms for what seemed like an eternity before Laurel finally held Mollie at arms’ length and looked into her eyes.

“You’re alive,” Laurel exalted. “Thank God, you’re alive.”

“I’m fine,” Mollie said, brushing her hair behind her ear.

Laurel mimicked Mollie’s movement and held a strand of her hair between her fingers. “Your hair…”

“I know. It’s ugly.”

“No, it’s not. It’s actually pretty. I like it. Did he…”

“Yeah,” Mollie said, pulling away from Laurel and walking over to her bed. “He cut it. He sent my hair to Pops to threaten him or something. I don’t know.”

“We don’t have to talk about it.” Laurel sat next to Mollie on the bed. “I’m just so glad you’re alive and unhurt. Except for that.” Laurel pointed to the angry-looking gash on Mollie’s forehead.

“It’s nothing.”

“How did it happen?”

Mollie sighed. She wasn’t sure she was ready to relive any of those hours with that crazy man, but Laurel was her best friend. Hell, she was the only friend Mollie had these days. Plus, she knew she had to talk about it at some point.

“We stopped at some old rundown grocery story after he grabbed me from the parking lot. He had to use the bathroom. I guess he forgot to take my cell phone, so when I saw the chance, I got out of the car and ran. I was going to call 911, but just before I could click send, he came up behind me, dragged me into the store, and hit me on the head with my phone. He threw it down and stomped on it and told me that if I tried anything like that again, he would—”

“I know,” Laurel said, placing her hand on top of Mollie’s. “You don’t have to say it.”

Mollie changed the subject. “So, what happened while I was gone?”

“Not much,” Laurel said. “The police came to my apartment yesterday afternoon. They were asking all kinds of questions about you. Trying to find you. One was old and looked a little like your grandpa, but the other one…he looked just like Shemar Moore. You know, Agent Morgan from Criminal Minds. I think he used to be on a soap opera a long time ago or something.”

Despite her somber mood, Mollie couldn’t help but smile. Criminal Minds was one of her favorite shows, and Agent Morgan had always tickled her fancy.

“Oh,” Laurel said “and I heard something else weird.”

“What?”

“You know that creepy kid at the mall who was, like, stalking you?”

“Conner?”

“Yeah, that’s him. Well, apparently your grandfather found him at the mall the morning after you…left. He and his bodyguards chased him through the mall and cornered him near the bathrooms. Scared the crap out of the kid.”

“Are you kidding me?” Mollie had been irritated by Conner, but she knew he didn’t mean her any harm. Somehow, she wasn’t surprised by Pops’s actions. Not now. “What happened? Did he hurt him?”

“No, just scared him. I guess he thought maybe Conner might have been the one who took you. But Conner told him about some man who’d been, like, really stalking you.”

So, Conner had seen the crazy man watching her. It wasn’t a big shock to hear this, especially considering the man himself had confessed he had been watching her for a while. Mollie also knew the man had taken her to get back at Pops, but she couldn’t tell Laurel that. As mad as she was at her grandfather, she didn’t want anyone knowing why she was taken. She wasn’t sure why, but she had a gut instinct that she should keep it to herself.

“What happened to Conner?” Mollie asked, trying to change the subject.

“Oh, no one knows. He quit the next day. Jenna said she saw him earlier today driving on Main Street, so I guess he’s fine. Whatever. He’s a creep.”

“Yeah.” Mollie nodded.

There was a brief lull in the conversation where Mollie didn’t know exactly what to say. She didn’t want to talk about her time in The Vault, but everything else seemed so trivial. She wondered why she called Laurel over in the first place. All she knew was, for the first time in a long time, she didn’t want to be alone.