It was a quiet street. In a quiet town. A quite, three story house, painted saffron yellow with white shutters and a pristine white door. It was surrounded by an iron fence about three feet high, and a lush green yard split in half by a gravel walkway. Out front was a sign that read 'Ms. Hannah's Home For Girls'. The streetlight in front of the house flickered then just as it went dark, a man and woman appeared so suddenly and silently you'd think they'd have dropped from the sky. The woman was holding a bundle of blankets in her arms, cooing at a small infant as the man looked around making sure no one saw them.
"Shh shh shh. It's okay." She whispered as the child squirmed and fussed.
"Come on." The man called for her and opened the gate. The walked slowly up to the house and as they got nearer the woman started to sob.
"Lily?" he whispered to her concerned.
"No." She stopped when they're about ten feet from the house. "No. I can't. I don't feel right about this."
He stands in front of her and grabbed her shoulders in a comforting squeeze. "We talked about this. We all made the decision together as a family. This is for the best. She'll be safer here. Hidden. Protected. Happy. Just until we can come back for her. This isn't goodbye, Lily. It's not forever. I promise. She will be reunited with her family." Lily nodded tears still flowing down her cheeks. But the man lead her forward until she was at the door. She sunk to her knees and placed the child on the front step. She brushed some of the short, rust, red locks away of the child's forehead and leaned down to place a kiss there. The baby gurgled back looking up at Lily with deep green eyes, a carbon copy of her own. The man placed a hand on her shoulder and she looked up at him. Then she takes a small envelope out of the breast pocket of her coat and tucks it in the swaddle blanket with the baby.
"We have to go," he said sadly. She looked back at the baby girl one last time, lightly stroking her cheek with her fingertips.
"We will see each other again," she promised. "My Love. My Rowan."
12 years later
Eyes. Grey like ash mixed with silver. Dark but there was something about them that shined. But they faded, just like they always do. Leaving only a silver, full moon behind. A howl pierced the silent night. It grew and grew until it turned into a blood chilling shriek. Crows darkened the sky, cawing until the screaming was drowned out. The flock grew darker and darker until it covered the moon and through the darkness shined two glowing yellow eyes. As the crows cleared the shape of a large black dog hiding in brush became clear. Stalking. It growled, low and threateningly. And just as it lunged forward there was a woman's scream, "Rowan!"
A girl shoot straight up in bed. Cold sweat sticking her rust hair to the back of her neck. She sighs in relief as she separates from her dream world into reality. It was just a dream.
It had been the same dream every night for weeks now. Nothing could help from keeping her up at night. She groans and collapses back down on the bed pulling the covers back over her head.
A door creaks open and a small mousy girl with long, chocolate brown hair peeks her head in. "Rowan?" she calls timidly. "It's time to get up." She informs the heap of human under the blankets in kind, melodious tones. "Rory? Roooory. Come on." She jumps on the bed, the last bed in a line of four and onto the heap. "It's the same time as yesterday, and the day before that, and the day before that!" She pulls the pillow out from under Rory's head and she groans. The girl then hits her with it but Rory still doesn't get up. "Out of bed sleepy head!" Nothing. "Rory," she starts, deciding on a different tactic, "I'm worried about Bo. Did you know she sneaks into Miss Hannah's room at night and steals her gin. And THEN she strips….NAKED! She walks around town drunk and howls at the moon. Like this." The girl lets out what Rory assumes is supposed to be a howl but comes out more like a puppy whimpering. A stifled giggle is heard beneath the sheets and the girl stops. "Rory!" The girl laughs too, now knowing for sure she's awake. She pulls the sheets off Rory's head and is instantly enveloped in the older girls arms. She pulls her onto the bed with her so they're both laying down. The little girl looks up at her with warm brown eyes. "Good morning," she giggles.
Rory pushes hair off the young girl's face. "Morning, Janey." She gives her a tight squeeze. "What time is it?"
"Almost 8:15." Rory places a hand over her face and groans. It's feels as though it were just eleven and she was crawling into bed for the night.
"Alright." She sits up in bed and Jane follows. She ruffles the girls hair invoking a smile from the child, then nudges her to get out of bed. "Go get some breakfast, Bug."
"Okay!" she says and happily skips out of the room. Rory swings her legs over the edge of the bed and as her feet hit the floor she steps on something. A book. She picks it up and looks at the cover. Beauty and the Beast. She must have fallen asleep reading last night. Her latest failed attempt in soothing her restless mind. Under her bed she stacked it with hundreds of others. Pride and Prejudice, 1984, The Wizard of Oz, Romeo and Juliet and so many more.
She then pulls out The Lion, The Witch and The Wardrobe, it would serve as her entertainment for the day, and then pulls her sheets back over the edge of the bed to cover the many stacks. She walks over to the dresser directly across from her bed. That's all the was in the room. Four beds lined up along one wall and four dressers on the opposite wall for four girls.
That's all that was left of Miss Hannah's, four girls. It was thriving once. Miss Hannah used to take in ten - twelve girls at a time. But eventually all the other girls were either adopted out or assigned to another home. All that was left was the outcasts. The girls who have never left since the day they arrived, and probably never would. There was Olivia Nolan, bed number 1, longest resident at Miss Hannah's. Her mother died shortly after she was born and she never knew her father. Liv was only a year older than Rowan but they are thick as thieves. They had been friends as long as Rory could remember and it's the closest thing she can imagine having a sibling would be like.
There was Maddison Bowie Brown, bed number 2, but everyone called her Bo. Ten years old and she has spent the least amount of time here. She had only arrived six years ago, after her family died in a fire.
Then there's Jane Snow, bed number 3, youngest of the quartet. She was dropped on the doorstep, not even one year old. Just like Rowan. Maybe that's why feels a stronger connection with her than the other girls. Liv and Bo had gotten here by way of tragedy, but Janey and her are alike. They were given up. Unwanted.
And then Rowan Evans, bed number 4.
The girls had made their own little family. An island in a sea of people who have written them off as 'poor orphans'. The thing is when you can't rely on your guardian you start to learn to take care of each other. Miss Hannah is barely given enough money to keep the house running each month and she spends half of it on gin.
So the girls help out as much as they can. If this place shut down they all would be separated, reassigned to new homes. Who knows if they'd ever see each other again. They can't let that happen.
Rory shoves her book into a backpack sitting on top of her dresser and then opens the top drawer where she pulls out multiple other items. A small flashlight, her glasses case, a small metal bowl, a pocket knife, her coin purse, and lastly a file with a big E on the side. She puts each item in her pack and zips it tight. She pulls her long, loosely curled hair back into a ponytail, gets dressed in some shorts, a grey tank top, a torn grey and black flannel, and very beaten white sneakers. She grabs her bag and heads out the bedroom door. She walks down the stairs that lead to the attic, down to the second floor. She walks down the hall, past two bedrooms that are set up exactly like the one upstairs. Four beds across from four dressers. The rooms used to be filled with the voices of a dozen little girls, but now lay empty. At the end of the hall she sneaks past a room with a cracked door. Through the crack she can see Miss Hannah the "guardian" of the house passed out and cuddled up with a bottle. She'd probably stay that way till ten tonight, at which point the girl's would be in bed, in the attic, far away from her.
She walks down the second set of stairs down to the kitchen. "Good morning, everyone," she greets the bustling room.
"Morning, Rory," Bo greets. She is a small dark skinned girl with short tightly curled hair and kind brown eyes. Her and Janey are sitting at the dining table eating bowls of oatmeal.
"Morning Bo." She kisses the girls temple as she walks past.
"Someone had a sleepy start this morning," Liv scolds while mixing something at the kitchen counter. Olivia is very beautiful. Shoulder length dark brown hair and very dark eyes that Rory thinks are a mark of her old soul. It seems Liv is always full of infinite wisdom.
"Yeah, I know," Rory says yawning.
"You have the dream again?"
"...Yeah."
"You go running?" she asks listing another one of Rowan's failed, self-prescribed, sleep cures.
"No. I tried reading instead."
"Did it help any?"
"I envy coma patients." She rubs her eyes tiredly. She looks up at the clock. "Is that the time? I'm going to be so late." She turns and opens the fridge to pull out a bottle of water and picks one of the slightly less bruised apples, and quickly starts shoving them in her bag.
"Well before you go..." Liv starts behind her. Rory closes the fridge door, then turns quickly, and blows out the candle sticking out of a bowl of oatmeal Olivia was now holding.
"Surprise!" Rory says stealing the word from Liv's mouth.
Liv looks from the candle back up to Rory in annoyance. "I'll never understand how you do that." She sets the bowl down and gives Rory a hug. "Happy Birthday."
"Happy Birthday, Rory!" Bo says happily.
"Yeah. Happy Birthday." Janey concurs around a mouth full of oatmeal.
"Thanks guys." She pulls away from Liv's hug. "But it's only the 30th. My birthday isn't until tomorrow."
"Yeah, well," Liv says, "we were trying to surprise you. A clearly impossible task." She laughs.
"Well thank you anyway." She takes a spoonful out of her birthday oatmeal and eats it before sitting it on the counter. "You sure you've got the girls today? I won't be back till late."
"We'll be fine. We're gonna go to the park. Right girls?" She looks over and both girls nod enthusiastically.
"My entomology journal says that the Male stag beetle is blooming this time of year. Maybe I'll see one today!" Bo says excited. She reaches over the table to hold up her open book that Rory got for her from the library. It is open on a page with a big black bug on it and she shows it to the older girls. Liv and Rory just smile and nod at her before looking at each other with the same confused look. They would never understand her obsession with the creatures they found in the park. Bo pulls that book back and looks in fascination at the insect. "Maybe," she says hopefully, "with the right tools I could even catch-"
"No!" both girls cut her off, their heads snapping in her direction fast. Bo looks up at their almost terrified expressions and hers falls in disappointment. Rory sighs and walk over to her. She leans her arms on the back of both girls' chairs and comes eye level with Bo.
"I'm sorry Bo, but you know the rule. No living critters of any kind. No squirrels, no birds, no bugs." Bo sighs deeply. Rory looks over at Janey who is trying to peek to see if Bo is okay. Rory them decides to relieve a bit of pressure. "Except for this bug." She leans in and gives Janey a big wet kiss on her cheek. Janey laughs as she pushes Rory away. When She looks back at Bo she see her watching the exchange her lips pulled up in a half smile now.
"Alright, alright," Liv says breaking up the girls. "They the rules and so do I. Now it's time for you to go." Rory straightens up and nods.
"Okay. Well what about lunch? Do you need money-"
"You are going to be late. Go!" Liv berates her.
"Okay. Okay." Rory holds up her hands. She leans down between the girls. "Janey, Bo, kisses." She leans between the girls and they both give her a peck on each cheek.
"Love you," they say in unison.
"Love you guys." she adjusts her pack on her shoulder and then heads for the door. "Bo, catch a rock for me," she tells the girl as she walks away.
"Say 'Hi' to Jack for me," Liv yells after her.
"Will do," she yells back and closes the front door behind her.
Rory walks through the front gate and out onto the main street, towards town. They live in a small village, on an island off the coast of Margate. Haven, Population: 1,382. Not a big tourist destination. Not much to see. They have the essentials, a post office, police station, and the cutest little school.
On her way to work every morning Rory passes through a park right across from the docks. Sometimes Rory would sit on a bench facing the water and read a book, or watch the ferry boats come and go. Just across the street from the park is a small, corner diner, Connor's. She walks inside the brightly lit diner, a wall of windows facing the park lets in the morning sun. A small bell jingles above the doorway to signal her arrival. She walks up to the front bar counter, and behind it she can already see the displeased owner, Quintin.
"You're late," he says as she got a couple feet away.
"I know. I'm sorry, Q," she says with a small pout. This isn't her first rodeo. He sighs deeply and shakes his head. He reaches below the counter, pulls out a black apron with the diners green logo on it, and throws it into her chest playfully. She catches it and gives him a smile.
"Get a move on," He orders her.
Q is one of the better people on the island. He acts displeased, difficult, and grumpy most of the time but he is the only one who would give Liv and her jobs. They aren't actually allowed to work there legally, so Q has them doing small jobs, busing tables, cleaning dishes, sweeping the diner, things like that. He pays them under the table and with a free sandwich here and there. Olivia sometimes is allowed to serve the guests, and would probably become a full-time server once she became old enough. For Rory however… as a guest once put it, "No one wants to be severed but the town train wreck." And if that didn't seem harsh enough, the stuff they'd say about her, if they thought no one would hear, was way worse. In a small town like this everybody knows everybody, and Rory is always blamed for anything that goes wrong on the island. So most people tend to avoid her.
Though, some didn't. "Hey, Rory!" She turns around to see John, Q's step-son.
John is in the same class as Rory. He's a relatively new friend of her's, despite living in Haven for most of both of their lives, but John's also one of the only friends she has outside of Miss Hannah's. She tutors him on the weekends for a little extra cash. Although, she knows he doesn't need it. In fact, Rory is sure she's the only one who knows how smart John really is, even though he tries to hide it for reasons unknown. She smiles and waves at him as she stores her pack under the front counter.
"Hey, John. How's it going?" She ties the apron around her waist and John sits at the counter. John was pretty handsome. Rory was aware of a few girls in their year who secretly have a crush on him. He had chestnut brown eyes and golden, brown hair with nice facial features.
"Not too bad, birthday girl." Rory's head snaps up to see a bright smile on his. How did he know that? It didn't take much though before she realizes. She rolls her eyes and shakes her head.
"Liv told you," she says as a statement rather than a question, but John answers anyway.
"Of course." He shrugs nonchalantly.
"Well, jokes on you, because my birthday isn't until tomorrow actually." She smirks.
"Well, then I guess you don't get this," he pulls out a small rectangular shape, wrapped in bright, blue, wrapping paper with a pearl, white bow on top. It's clearly a book, because if anyone really knew Rory they'd know how much she loves to read, "until tomorrow," he finishes. She smiles at him with tenderness. John could be unbelievably kind sometimes. She reaches for the book but before she touches it...
"John! Stop distracting my workers!" Q yells at the boy. Rory jumps startled.
John rolls his eyes at his stepfather, but then gives Rory a flirty smile and sighs. "Later then." He winks slides the book off the counter and takes it with him as he leaves the diner, giving her a smile over his shoulder as he walks past the windows and towards the main street.
Every day in Haven is basically the same. Bustling around the dinner for a few hours, lunch at one where she would swipe a turkey sandwich and break out the apple she brought from home that morning, break out her percy style reading glasses and a book to read while she eats. Sometimes John would come over and talk to her. At two she would wrap up the other half of the sandwich she never ate, and finally it is back to work for another couple hours.
She finally left the diner around five, where Q hands her, her pay for the day. In fact he slips in a little extra and though he doesn't say anything she knows it's his way of saying 'Happy Birthday Rory'. The sun just starts setting, while she walks a couple blocks to the town square, where the town library and records office is. She stops when she reaches the alley between the library and a hardware store. She walks a few steps inside the alley the crouches down to the ground. She then pulls from her bag the small metal bowl, and the water bottle, she had packed this morning, also the last half of her turkey sandwich. She sits the bowl on the ground, pours water in it and then unwraps the sandwich and sits it down next to it. "Here, kitty kitty," she calls down the dark passageway. A small, grey kitten emerges from the alley in happy bounds. It goes to the bowl and starts to drink the water. Rory scratches, the slightly dirty, kitten's head. "Enjoy D'Artagnan."
She grabs her bag and walks back to the library. When she enters she's immediately greeted by glare from the librarian, Mrs. Haverty. Mrs. Haverty was the complete image of what you'd imagine an old librarian would look like. Grey hair, wrinkled skin, sweater vests, straight down to the half moon glasses on a chain. Rory nods curtly at the old woman before turning hard right and walking into the stacks of books. She walks past all of the shelves and straight towards a door marked 'staff only'.
She walks into the door completely ignoring the sign and into the back hallway where she immediately sees a ladder. She secures her backpack over her shoulders and starts to climb the ladder up into the clock tower that presides over the library. She reaches the top of the ladder and pushes open the trapdoor into the main clock and pulls herself up on to the wood platform. "Jack?" Rory calls into the dimly lit tower and takes her back pack off.
"Rory?" A woman's voice calls back. Suddenly a foot in front of her a woman with dark skin and hair, pops upside down from the floor above her making Rory jump and gasp in fright. "Bonjour, ma colombe." She says amused knowing she just scared the girl.
Jacqueline "Jack" Beaumont was the only other friend Rory has in Haven besides Miss Hannah's girls, and John. She's more than twice Rory's age, but Jack has been there for Rory in ways no one else ever has. She's natively French but came to live in London when she was barely a teenager and then migrated her way over to the island almost seven years ago, where she works as a handyman, or handy-woman, for the major city issues. Mainly the old town square clock. No matter what Jack does she just can't seem to keep the damn thing running.
Rory doesn't mind much though, she loves the old clock tower. Jack pulls herself back up to the higher platform giggling to herself. "Yeah. Ha. Ha. Very funny," Rory says sarcastically. Jack climbs down the creaky wooden ladder to greet her.
"Have a sense of humor. Sourire, fille d'anniversaire."
"Ah." Rory held up a finger. "It's not my birthday yet." Over the years, Jack had taught Rory many things. French being their main subject, since it was Jack's first language. Half of their conversations now were in French. She had also taught her how to play chess, play the guitar, paint and draw (not many people knew how great of an artist Jack actually was), she had tried to teach her how to cook a couple times but Rory was hopeless in a kitchen, and Rory knew how to take apart and put back together most of the pieces of the very clock she was standing in now. She was smart. She actually enjoyed school, just not the people in it.
Jack smiled brightly and held her arms out as she got closer. "Come here, Mouse." Rory drops her pack to the ground and walks into the woman's open arms with a smile. Jack squeezes her tightly and sighs fondly, as if she's thinking of a far off memory. "Did you get taller since the last time I saw you? You feel taller." Jack pulls back and places both of her hands on Rory's shoulders and examines her closer, as if she's trying to measure her.
"Well, since I saw you yesterday, I'm going to go with no." Jack scrunches up her nose.
"You look like a young woman."
"It's not my birthday yet!" Rory yells. Honestly she didn't know why everyone was making such a big fuss over her birthday. Well...that's a lie. She's turning thirteen, and usually that's a milestone the start of young womanhood, but for an orphan it meant the end. No one wants to adopt a teenager, so most kids in orphanages looked at it as the end of their chance for a home and a family. Perhaps everyone was trying to distract her from that fact? Now that she thought of it none of them had actually acknowledged that she was turning thirteen. She didn't know what the big fuss was about though. As far as Rory was concerned she already had a home and a family.
"Today, tomorrow, who cares. Point is..."Jack practically skips over to where her tool box is and pulls a present from behind it.
"No!" Rory shakes her head. "I said I didn't want you to buy me a present." Jack rolls her eyes and still hands the present over to her. It's a simply wrapped rectangle in brown paper but it has cute painted picture of a cake a candle on it.
"That's why I didn't buy you a present." Jack reaches up and tucks a stray red curl behind Rory's ear. "I made one." Rory sighs and smiles at the older woman, her heart filled with fondness. Rory looks down at the package a unwraps it carefully to preserve the painting. After she tears the paper away she opens the white cardboard box and inside lays a very unique gift laying on some white tissue paper. It's a gear about the size of a small kitchen plate and a hook for hanging at the top. It has wire strung in and out of the middle with purple beads woven in. A long piece of metal painted to look like a purple feather an old key that probably goes to nothing at this point in time hanging down off of it from chains. There are two charms clung to it with wire, one that has 'Dream' stamped into a circle piece of copper, and one at the bottom which was a golden pendant shaped like a flower, a lily to be exact. It was beautiful. "Now I know it's not a traditional dream catcher, but then I though, 'When have we ever been traditional?'"
"I love it," Rory says looking back up to her. Jack smiles.
"Hopefully it'll keep all those bad dreams away." Rory give Jack a tight hug.
Every Friday was the one day of the week where Rory relaxed enough to let Olivia take the girls for the whole day by herself. It was her night with Jack. After her shift at the diner she'd come to the library and they'd sit in the clock tower while the sun set. Jack would pack a dinner for the both of them. Tonight, her amazing fish stew. Some days, after they ate, Jack would teach her something new, some days they work on the clock together while Jack sung songs, and then there were days like today where they were silent. Jack works on the clock while Rory rests against a beam reading a book. They were comfortable. Happy.
The sun had set a few hours ago it was now getting close to closing hours, Rory is nearing the middle of her book when the lights go out leaving them completely in the dark. It happens from time to time. It's an old building and if a few wires get crossed…
Rory can hear Jack kick something from above and start yelling in French. "Bon sang! Encore avec cet endroit! Il y a toujours de la merde que je dois réparer!"
"Hey language!" Rory yells up to the irate woman. Jack sighs exasperated.
"I'm sorry, Amor. There's a lantern down there by my tool box along with a box of matches. Can you light it and bring it up to me so I can see?"
Rory sets her book aside and navigates her way through the tower, her only source of light being what little light the moon shows though the clock. Just as she her eyes are starting to adjust to the darkness she reaches the tool box and accidentally kicks it into the lantern. She leans forward quickly to catch it before it falls, but when she touches it though it feels as though it's red hot. Inside the globe a spark goes off,like and overheated ember in a bonfire. She hisses and yanks her hand back quickly letting it fall.
"Rory? You okay?" Jack calls down concerned.
Rory cradles her hand to her chest and looks down at the lantern. The wick is seared slightly and smoke it gathering in the glass as if the lantern were just blown out. "Yeah I'm fine!" Rory calls quickly. "Found the lantern."
"Okay the matches should be right there." Rory sits on her knees feels around on the ground and in the tool box but can't find the match box anywhere.
"I can't find them."
"Keep looking." She huffs in frustration and reaches over to sit the lantern upright and watches as smoke still swirls around behind the glass. It's then she gets a thought. A silly thought really. It's a stupid thought. It was nothing. Yet...
She looks behind her up at the second landing, where she knows Jack is, but she can't be seen. Then she looks back at the lantern and worries at her bottom lip while she battles herself inside her mind. She huffs and rolls her shoulders back making a decision. What's the harm?
She places her hands on her knees and leans forward, to get good focus on the wick of the lantern. She just stares at it, unblinking, waiting for it to do...something. Anything. After a moment she blinks and her shoulders drop. Her hand comes up to her face and she rubs her drying eyes. "Stupid," she whispers to herself. She opens her eyes and as her hand drops the lamp flickers to life in front of her. She looks at it dumbfound and breathless.
"Ah! Let there be light!" Jack calls as the light radiates up to the second platform. "Now come over here and light my way down." Rory picks up the lantern without a word and brings it over to the ladder. Jack climbs down slowly. "Well," Jack looks around the dark tower. "It's almost closing time anyway, why don't we head out?" Jack asks her. She doesn't answer, she's still staring at the burning wick. Jack reaches out and touches her shoulder. "Hey." Rory's head snaps up. "Est-ce que ça va, souris?" Rory shakes her head clear and gives the older woman a half smile.
"Yeah. I'm fine. Sorry. Let's get out of here." Jack rubs her arm gently.
"Okay."
They quietly gather up their things and Jack leads the way out of the side entrance back into the alley where, somewhere, D'Artagnan is hiding. Jack locks the door behind her and On their way out to the main road Rory picks up the now empty bowl she had put out earlier and puts it back in her pack. But leaves the now half eaten and torn apart turkey sandwich.
"You really shouldn't feed strays you know," Jack tells her as she zips up her bag. Rory adjusts her bag on her shoulder.
"You do," she says with a cheeky smile and Jack gives her a pointed look. "Oh come on. Have a sense of humor," she reiterates Jacks earlier statement. Jack rolls her eyes before pulling the girl into a hug. Rory hugs back tightly.
"Get home safe okay?" Rory nods against her chest. When they pull away they turn to head their separate ways. "Hey, Rory…" she calls back at her, Rory turns around. "Stay out of trouble. Okay?" Rory nods slightly. Jack continues on her way home and Rory watches as she walks out of sight.
Just then Mrs. Haverty comes out of the library her arms full of books and papers. Rory quickly ducks back into the alley. She peers around the corner and watches as the old woman locks the doors to the building. She turns and starts on her walk home, but as she walks by the alleyway Rory pops out, running into her and knocking everything out of her hands.
"Mrs. Haverty, I'm so sorry," Rory apologizes quickly and bends down to the ground. "Here let me help you."
"It's fine, Rowan." She always says her name like she takes a sip of straight lemon juice. Rory quickly gathers all of the materials in her arms quickly and hands them back to her. Mrs. Haverty snatches her things back and Rory jumps away with her hands behind her back.
"Sorry," Rory apologizes again before the woman storms away. "Have a nice night!" she calls after her. She waits for the woman to walk around the corner before she pulls out the keys from behind her back. She then walks back into the alley, back to the side entrance and unlocks it. She enters into the employees only hallway. She shrugs her back pack off of her shoulder and digs through it until she finds her small flashlight. She lights the hall as she walks back to the back room. The records room. Filing cabinets upon filing cabinets lined the walls and windows. But Rory made a b-line for a cabinet on the far wall against one of the windows.
The label on it reads EF - EV. Rory sets the flashlight on top of the cabinet and uses the keys she swiped off Mrs. Haverty to unlock it. She rifles through the cabinet until she finds and open slot between the names Evanovich and Evard. She then pulls out the E marked file from her backpack, but before she can put it back someone burst through the door.
"Hands up!" A man yells. Rory whips around and throws her hands up still holding the file in one hand and the stolen keys in the other. "Rowan?"
"Oh...Heeeey, Deputy Ernest. What are you doing here?" She says nonchalantly. He gives her a disapproving look and lowers his flashlight.
"I saw the light through the window." He gestures the flashlight sitting on top of the cabinet. "What do you think you're doing?" she shrugs.
"Picking up a light reading before bed?" she jokes. He didn't find it very funny. He holds out his hand and she hands over the file and keys.
"Come on." He waves for her to follow him. She picks up the flashlight and her backpack and follows him out the door all the way to his cruiser.
They made it to the police station Rory walked willingly next to the deputy. Once inside it didn't take long for a woman with a vexing glare to greet them. "Hey Chief," she greeted the woman, Chief Lancaster. Lancaster turned to the deputy.
"What was it this time?" she asks already dreading the answer.
"Breaking and entering."
"I had a key," Rory interrupts.
"And I caught her stealing a file from records."
"It was my own file. And I wasn't stealing it. That's a misunderstanding." The chief nods in a way that tells Rory she's not buying it.
"Mmhm," Lancaster folds her arms across her chest. "Where'd you get the key Rowan?"
Rory freezes like a deer in headlights. "It's Rory," she corrects in a mumble. "And the key?" The chief nods for her to go on. Rory rolls her eyes. "Okay that I stole." Lancasters shoulders slump and she shakes her head. She turns back to the deputy.
"Put her in a holding cell for the night. Maybe twelve hours in solitary will do her some good."
"Aye, aye, captain." Rory salutes the chief before the deputy grabs her arm and escorts her away.
