Finding Eden (A Sign of Love Novel)(90)

All of that, in addition to my apartment being demolished, and seeing Clive on television had brought on a deep despair. I hadn't expected the very sight of his weasly face to plummet me into a spiral of anger and feelings of defeat. But it had. Despite Clive Richter's small stature, he had always held a place of authority and power over me. Physically, I had always been stronger. But emotionally, or rather power-wise, he had always controlled me, and in some sense, that was still true.
We definitely needed to get away.
The day after we'd decided to take a trip to Indiana, and before we could plan a thing, the FBI showed up at Carolyn's door. My heart picked up in speed and adrenaline pulsed through my body when Molly came out to the patio where Eden and I were sitting to tell us. We exchanged confused glances, mine most likely more worried than hers, and followed Molly inside where a heavyset man with dark hair and a tall, African American man, both wearing suits, waited.
"Hello," the heavyset man said, not smiling. "I'm FBI Agent Rivera." He nodded to his right. "This is Agent Glenn. You must be Calder Raynes?" he asked, holding his hand out to me. I nodded and shook both their hands.
"Please, call me Calder. And this is Eden," I said as Eden came up right behind me. She shook their hands, too.
"Nice to meet you two," Agent Rivera said, the serious look still on his face. "We need you two to come down to the local FBI field office where we can interview you. Sound all right to you?"
My hands were suddenly clammy, but I reached out for Eden's anyway. I had no idea what this meant. When I gripped her hand in mine, she looked over at me, a small crease between her eyebrows.
"Is it necessary?" I asked.
"It really is. We're responsible for numerous missing children's cases and we need to close yours out. Plus, we need to discuss a few other things that I'd rather get into when we get to our office."
That last part had my blood pumping swiftly through my veins, but I nodded. What other choice did we have? This is not like last time. This is not like last time. The last time we'd been in a police car for reasons we didn't entirely understand, we'd been coerced, tricked—and we'd been led straight to hell. This was different.
Carolyn came rushing into the room and introduced herself to the detectives. Molly must have told her they were here. "Does my daughter need a lawyer?" Carolyn asked, her eyes darting between them and Eden. I noted that she hadn't mentioned me.
"If she feels more comfortable having her lawyer present, he can meet us at the field office," Agent Rivera said.
"Mom," Eden said, "they just want to close out our case." She looked nervously at me.
Carolyn shook her head. "I'll have my lawyer meet you at the office. It'll make me feel better. It's the smart thing to do."
The detectives nodded and Eden looked annoyed, her lips pressed together as she squeezed my hand.
"Do you want to call a lawyer, too, Calder?" Agent Rivera asked. I glanced at Eden and shook my head and then glanced at Carolyn.
"I don't have anything to hide," I said.
My nerves spiked again as we were escorted to Carolyn's driveway, where a police car waited. This is not the same, this is not the same, I kept repeating. Just the sight of the police cruiser alone made my fight or flight instinct kick in and I pulled Eden to me. She gripped me back. Whether she was scared, too, or whether she was holding me so tightly because she knew I needed it, I wasn't sure. I had thought I had let go of some of the fear of the police after sitting through the questioning about Acadia recently. But in that moment, anxiety assaulted me because I didn't understand what was happening. Once again, I felt like everyone except me had the upper hand.