Sins of My Father

Disclaimer: I own nothing

A/N:

Chapter 10 (Concerned Relatives)

On the eve of July 4th, Trina was busy getting a cake ready in the oven and preparing for a festive party when she heard her phone going off multiple times. When she went to check it, she saw the calls were from Jade, so she answered with a tone of exhaustion. "What's going on, Jade?"

"I think I may have information that will help you find that Alex woman." Her heart stopped and she quickly hurried to turn off the radio that was playing music. Without missing a beat, she dropped her oven mitt on the end table.

"Tell me!"

"Well I was doing some surfing online when I came across this teenager on one of the local school pages. Taylor Mack, and she had a woman on her friend's list named Alexandria." Trina put her hand to her chest and furrowed her brow.

"Are you serious right now, Jade?"

"Fully. The girl doesn't seem to use Facebook much, but just posted something to her school's webpage. She has almost no friends on her list besides Alexandria, and that woman has literally nobody else. Hell, Alexandria's facebook is completely private, and there is one post on her page from years ago."

Something didn't add up, though. "If they're related, like that is our Alex that we're looking for, then that means-"

As if she were reading her mind. "That means Alexandria was a teenager when she got pregnant with Taylor." Trina clenched her fist, shaking it in front of her waist and listening as Jade took a deep breath. "I reached out to her, asking about her mother and that message on the media."

"If they don't want to be found, you can't possibly have gotten information from her."

"Well that's the thing, I did." Trina's eyes opened wide and she fell into her couch while throwing her hand to the top of her head. "I revealed my position as one of your people, ensured her that she could trust me…I got her to meet with me at the local coffee shop where all the teenagers hung out, and she told me all about her mom. She said she wanted to respond to that announcement on the news because she wanted to help her mother; she believes her mom is in dire need of help, and she's terrified. She doesn't know what she would do if something happened to her mother."

"What is Alexandria's state? How bad?"

"Very bad, apparently…She's been in and out of rehab several times, she's still very much a street worker and always tells her daughter she has no idea what other options are available to her. She's depressive, possibly suicidal, smokes and drinks heavily."

''Were you able to get her to convince her mom to talk to us?"

"She said she would try. I gave her your number too, just in case."

"I don't understand. If they have a facebook, and they've been in this area…how the hell has David not been able to find them?"

"Taylor told me they've never been in one place for very long, always on the run. According to her, they've gone from motel to motel, barely making ends meet. She hasn't been on facebook very long at all, and her mother only just got one because of her prodding."

That explained it. They slipped up, likely due to the daughter's impatience. It was understandable that Taylor wanted a normal life and wanted to stop living on the run; but she might not realize just how dangerous it could be to set up a Facebook account.

Trina cleaned herself up and finished the food she was working on, then left to meet this girl. Taylor had called, due to Jade reminding her after their phone call to do so, and agreed to meet. They met at a neighborhood park, not wanting to let any potentially wandering eyes follow her to the girl's residence.

There wasn't anything extraordinary about the girl's appearance. She had acne covering her face and a few scars from where she would pop the zits. He shirt was a loose, purple tee with a large collar that hung off her left shoulder. Her sandy brown hair looked like it had been chopped up with a butcher's knife and stopped at her shoulders.

"I would have cleaned up a bit more," Taylor said with a heavy sigh, "But it's a bit short notice." The girl looked around and sucked in the air. "So it's just you?" Trina nodded. She felt her heart going out to this child, but didn't want to make any snap judgments or criticisms.

"It's my investigation. You can't see them, but I have my people hiding all over this area right now. You're in a safe place."

"Mom says no place is safe." Taylor's eyebrows quivered and she folded her fingers over the ends of her knee-length skirt. "You know what it's like to live your life in fear? Being told the boogeyman is real, and moving from place to place just so you won't be found…"

"It cannot be easy. I'm sorry." Taylor watched some children on the playground in front of them. She noticed a rasp in the girl's voice and watched as she reached for her chest. Taylor closed her eyes and breathed in deep.

"I was born with a lot of issues. My breathing, my heart, you name it. Mom had Medicaid, so I'm fortunate, but I'm scared…and tired…tired of running all my life, tired of not being able to have a normal life."

She was afraid the girl might have some major health issues, but didn't know the extent. This was a child that, like it or not, had likely been conceived through an incestuous affair. "Your mom is right to be afraid of that man she's running from-" She paused and studied the hurt in Taylor's eyes, then shook her head. "But running isn't going to do anything. You need to get help. Maybe she's lucky enough to get Medicaid to take care of you; but what if that isn't enough? What if something happens that you need serious help for?"

Tears welled up in the girl's eyes and she bowed her head. "I want my mom to be happy and not have to look over her shoulder anymore; but it's gotten to the point where I'm the one taking care of her." She pressed her lips firmly together and glanced up at a passerby walking their dog. "There are days mom won't even eat unless I get something ready. She's getting worse and worse every day now."

"When did that start happening?"

"The minute that man's trial aired on national television." Taylor's face turned to anger, but only for a split second before a whimper cracked through and her body began to tremble. "I-I'd never seen his face before. I was sort of fascinated, but when mom saw him, she froze up like she'd just seen the devil walking Earth. I've even told her that he's in prison now, he can't find us…"

An exhale rushed from Trina's lips and her hands tightened around her knees. "Has your mother ever talked about him to you?" Taylor wiped her cheeks and gave a brief nod.

"A couple times…Not a lot. Mom said she was given up for adoption by her birth mother because of what that man did to her." The girl hugged her waist and turned a somber gaze towards the lake off in the distance. "She told me that she'd been on drugs when she was a teenager and was thrown out by her family after constant rehab visits didn't work."

"Oh god…"

Taylor raised her shoulders. "She started working the streets, selling herself because she didn't know what else to do; and that's when she met him." The girl coughed through the tears streaming down to her chin. "He didn't know who she was; but he made promises that he would help her."

"Did he know she was young? I mean, he had to know."

"She always lied about her age back then." Trina raised a hand to her chin, covering her mouth. Her stomach lurched violently. "She was seventeen when she started, so not a lot of people were going to, you know, do that." She could see Taylor slowly shutting down, distracting herself by looking at various objects around her. It couldn't be easy to talk about this, to know that this was the way her mother lived.

"You don't have to discuss this if you don't want to."

"No, I have to." Taylor scoffed and turned her gaze back to her. "You don't understand. My mom needs help."

"Okay…"

The girl sniffled and began wiping her nose, trying to catch the mucous running out. Trina reached into her purse and pulled out a small packet of tissues. "Thank you." Taylor quickly blew her nose and crumpled the tissue up in her hand. "Anyway, she got closer to him. Had sex a few times and then when she was pregnant with me, she went to him."

Trina wasn't sure what Alex would have expected, especially since that time frame David would've been a married man with two girls already. Then again, what would he have cared?

"That's when he became a monster. He said he would help her, and began asking questions about her background. She said she was adopted, but knew who her birth mom was and knew about what happened to her. When she told him, he froze up for the longest time…then, without warning, he grabbed her by the throat and-and-he tried to kill her."

"Taylor." She reached out, but the teenager moved back. Taylor's brow furrowed and she lifted a trembling hand over her mouth.

"She managed to get away from him. She told me she ran as fast as she could, and he was chasing her. He tried everything from shooting at her to getting in his car and trying to run her over. The last thing she remembers hearing from him before she could find a spot to hide was that he would find her and kill her…he would kill both of us…"

"You are very brave." Taylor dropped her face into her hands and began crying into them. Trina carefully rubbed the girl's back and lifted her gaze upwards. She wasn't sure that she'd have the strength to do what Alex had done, to run and to raise her child in a world of fear. "How have the two of you managed to survive? Have you had any help at all?"

Taylor lowered her hands and nodded slightly. "My Aunt…Mom's adoptive sister…She tried to help after everything went down. She couldn't do much; but there were a few times Mom would send me to stay with her because she had to be checked into a rehab facility." Taylor scoffed. "I don't know how she managed to not lose me. I don't think the CPS had ever been involved, and I don't want them to be."

"At this point, you've got two years before you're at an adult age yourself. They could try to get involved, but I wouldn't worry about that."

"Yeah, I'm not worried about it. You know, my aunt has a family of her own, and with mom moving around as much, that's the whole reason she hasn't been in our lives as much as she could have been."

"I can understand that."

"You see, I can't explain it because I don't understand it…but those drugs she'd been taking when she was a teenager, they made her live in a sort of fantasy world. I think they caused her to hallucinate and behave in weird ways; but she's not like that anymore. She doesn't touch whatever drug she was on back then. She doesn't take drugs now, but I know she's still battling it."

"Right."

"You have to also keep in mind the last person that told her they could help her tried to kill her." Trina nodded, the corner of her lip sank back into her cheek. "She doesn't trust easily, and I barely got her to agree to getting any help at all. I'm just terrified I'm going to lose her."

"You won't lose her, I'll make sure the two of you are safe. Will she be okay talking to me? Do you think?"

"I think so…That lady from before, she said you're also his daughter but that you're against him?"

"Yeah. Most of us are."

"Most? So there are others?"

"A lot more." Taylor sank and began to whine. "I'm part of the CIA, leading the investigation against him." She pat her chest. "Right now, there are people out there Taylor, who are working for him, and I'm the one trying to stop them." Taylor gasped out and began to tense. "If your mother is in any sort of negative place right now, it may be good for you to take her and go somewhere she feels comfortable. What about your aunt?"

"Aunt Annie. Ann is the reason we moved here. I got Ann to convince mom to stay with her for a while…"

"Your Aunt lives in town here?"

"Yes. She moved here about five years ago. We were in Montana then." Taylor paused momentarily, her features tightening a bit as she focused on the ground. "Why? Why do you think that man is after us?"

"Well. For one, because where your mom's birth mother was in one of the capital punishment states, as was your mom, when both had their interactions with David. Your mother was not quite eighteen when she and David had sexual relations; and on a final note, you are living proof of that instance while she's living proof of the sexual assault he committed years before."

Taylor huffed. "In other words, if it ever came out…"

"He would be in far worse trouble than he currently is." Though currently, he was already in a world of trouble but stood a chance of getting out and possibly restructuring his life. "If the electric chair were still a thing, he would be toast."

"You don't like him much do you?"

Trina sucked in a deep breath, her chest and shoulders expanded and she gently shook her head. "I spent a good portion of my teenage years living in fear of him as well. Finally, I was the one that brought him down last year…and it was living hell." She had to admit, she'd love to see him fry. Lethal injection was too good for him.

"He sounds like a very evil person." Taylor looked at the playground once more and gently wiped her tears off her face with the tissues. Trina studied her, remembering the count of children David mentioned.

He knew this one existed, which meant she was a part of that total. David was a sick man. On one hand, sure, he didn't know at the time who Alex was; but that didn't count for much. Not with all the atrocities that kept popping up.

Before she could continue the conversation, her phone started going off. Knowing she had to answer in case any of her people said something was up, she excused herself and took her phone from her pocket. Taylor watched her, slowly rubbing her knees and nodding for a minute.

"Trina here."

"Hey." It was Detective Malone. He wasn't one of those stationed at the park right now, but she didn't relax yet. "I got something else. A woman came in, says she drove up here from Sacramento." The media included Detective Malone's name as a contact point, but she didn't expect anyone to actually drive the distance. "Says she has information for us regarding her youngest brother…"

"Oh?"

"Yeah, and you know that seemingly mythical senator David was talking about? Seems she's their mother…Oh, and I received a call from Canada today. Looks like the fourth one mentioned in David's letter. His step-sister contacted me, says she's extremely worried for him and thinks he may be a danger to himself and to the family. She found letters, recent letters, stashed in his apartment bedroom that were from David…'Fueling his anger' as she puts it."

"Jesus. So much for today's celebration…" She wasn't sure who the most at risk was right now, or who to attend to first. While she was dealing with Taylor right now, she and her mother likely would be safe enough for her to travel to Gary's office and speak with this woman that came in-or she could have Gary talk to her. Ultimately, however, she needed to speak with the woman herself. "Let me sort out my next step, Gary. Try to get as much information as you can from the one in your office."

"Gladly. I will keep you informed."

Well, we've learned a hell of a lot here in this chapter. There's a sort of hidden trend that will begin to unveil itself with several of David's children. When you pay attention to the ages a lot of the girls were that he slept with, you start to realize more of his reasoning behind the mass genocide. So it looks like the children of his initial letter are rearing their heads; and you may know who they are now given the clues-but if not, you will soon. Next chapter is going to be an adrenaline rush...