-35-
The cool wind blew against Iola's face. She watched her brother standing a few feet away in the parking lot of the Indiana Medical Center. He was tending to a business call. While Chet was not one who needed to work, he still chose to vest much of his time in protecting his interests. He had several business partners he had met in recent years. Acquaintances one might call them. Chet was no stock market wizard, but he did keep good company with those who might be considered such. Chet passed much of his time venturing out into the brokering of art and antiquities. Something Iola never really ever saw her brother doing. She knew he was not really driven by it. At least not with any passion. It was just a means for him to stay in tight with his wealthy friends.
Iola was feeling peevish to put it mildly. And it wasn't for just the cold air blowing against her thin top. She had not anticipated going outside. But when she had gotten into a lengthy, and at times heated discussion with Chet inside Callie's ICU room, the outside seemed a more appropriate forum. She watched her brother talking in earnest to someone on his cell phone. She rolled her eyes and looked down at the ground. Perhaps this was his coping mechanism. Perhaps she was being harsh on him. But for all it was worth, Iola was disappointed in her brother at that point.
A few more minutes of conversation brought Chet to finally pocketing his phone and turning to his sister. He noted the disdain on her face.
"Sorry, sis." He murmured sheepishly. Iola shook her head and doing her best not to be disgusted with him.
"It's ok." She said with raised eyebrows as she turned her head in a vain attempt to disguise her displeasure. "I am sure the call was quite important."
"Well, yes it was, actually. I am brokering a very..." Iola held her hand up, abruptly causing Chet to cease his explanation.
"Chet, I don't want to hear it. I had hoped that maybe you were talking to mom and pop and asking about my other two nieces. But as I presumed, you were not." Chet exhaled slowly. He didn't speak immediately. Knowing full well that any words would not be satisfactory to his sister.
"Sis, I don't know what you want me to say. I am here and I brought Maddie to see Cal. I am dealing with this as best as I can." Iola blinked repeatedly at her brother.
"I hope you aren't taking a poll on how others are viewing your 'best as I can' performance. Because between your eldest and myself, the reviews would not be flattering."
"And what is that supposed to mean?" Chet asked with a bit of an indignant look. Iola slowly shook her head and half smiled in spite of everything.
"It means your oldest child and your sister think your approach to this whole situation, just frankly sucks." Chet looked down, crestfallen. Iola sighed, knowing she had spoken something she probably should have only thought. And maybe her own coping mechanism had caused her to be extra critical of anyone who was not fully engrossed with Callie's recovery. She knew that perhaps she was not being entirely fair to her brother. She knew he had a distinct lack of fondness for hospitals and stressful situations which drew upon him. It hadn't always been that way. She knew her brother at one point had been much less anxiety prone. That he had once saved her and Callie from certain death in the air crash years ago. And that was but one occasion of several if Iola had to be honest in her recollection. The fact that in the past decade something had happened which caused Chet to be less able to cope, may not be his fault. The doctors had speculated PTSD. Iola managed to smile to her brother. "I am sorry, bro. It isn't quite fair for me to be as critical as I have been." She paused and looked at him. Chet was still looking down at the ground. "I won't pretend to know all of the details to what you and Cal have been through these past years. The dynamics of relationships and family are very complicated and ever evolving. I know it is hard for you to be here. Not because you don't care for Cal. I know you do. But I know these places, compounded with the stressors, are probably causing you to choose a lot of ways to deal with it that are different that I would choose. I am not criticizing." Chet nodded slowly.
"I want to be there for her. But this place. This whole situation with Aimee. The uncertainty of it all. Yeah, I guess it is not exactly catching me at my best and I am trying to deal in ways that may make me come off as, well, perhaps, unconcerned." Iola nodded slightly to him.
"Bro, you are going to drive yourself nuts and, frankly, me as well if you choose to sit around this hospital. Maybe you should go back home and put yourself back into your, er, work, or projects. I'm not sure what you call them." Chet raised an eyebrow at his sister, but then sighed.
"Guess I deserved that. I just want to make sure we have enough money..." Again, Iola held up a hand and gave a wry smile, then shook her head.
"Bro, I do understand that in some way you have a legitimate need to increase your already vast holdings. I suppose that is something which comes to those who have a lot of money. I am rather glad I have declined your many offers to help my station in life. Not just because Joe would have issues with that. But because it just isn't me. You know that. It's not that I am not grateful for what you have done. But if making more money helps you cope with this, then do what you need to do to stay sane."
"Well, I don't know what I should do, sis." Chet began slowly. "I mean I do have legitimate business to tend to. Not that my heart is quite in it. But I do have certain responsibilities to projects I am committed to. But my concern for them isn't as important as what is at hand here. And even if I wanted to go back and distract myself with work, I am a bit..." Chet's voice drifted as he searched for word.
"What?" Iola promoted. Chet cleared his throat.
"Well, Maddie would not exactly enjoy the idea of having just got here and me turning us right back around. I am sure she wants to be here for Cal." Iola gave him a shrug.
"Then leave her here. Auntie can keep an eye on her. And, well, it might help your relationship with her." Chet bit his lip as he thought about the idea.
"Well, I mean as long as you are not going to dis me to her..." Iola took on an annoyed look.
"Chet, do you seriously think I am going to bad mouth you to your own child? Just because I am a bit disappointed in the manner in which you are dealing with some elements of this situation does not mean I don't love you. That I don't care about you. And obviously I want my niece to be able to look upon her father with love and admiration. The last thing I am going to do it bad mouth you." Chet cleared his throat and looked from side to side. He knew his fears were unfounded and the dose he just got from his sister was well deserved.
"Well, as usual, sis, you are right. Alright, if she is ok with it, then I will leave her here with you so she can be with her mom. I will get back to Long Island and try to keep my mind occupied. But I need you to keep me abreast of what is happening with Cal. If there is any change at all, you need to let me know so that I can get back here!" Iola nodded and managed a reassuring smile.
"Of course, bro. You will be the first to know." Chet nodded. He felt slightly better. He looked down to Iola's purse as they heard a tone sounding. Iola reached in and grabbed her phone and looked down at it. She smirked and sighed. Now it was Chet's turn to see if he could help.
"I know that look, sis. What did Joe do?" In spite of being irritated, Iola let out a light chuckle in an attempt to release some of her anger.
"Well, he had told me yesterday that he was likely going to need to head home so he could get back to work and check up on Joey." She paused and took on a distant somber look. "God, I miss him."
"So..." Chet interrupted. "I guess that message is confirmation that he is indeed going to be leaving?" Iola sniffled a bit and nodded.
"Yeah. I mean I am glad that he was able to come out and keep me sane for the week. But guess I am just going to miss him, too."
"Understandable." Chet said sympathetically. "Is Fenton still going to be around? I know that he had to send a couple operatives out to Chicago to take over an investigation there when things went down here." Iola nodded.
"Yeah... gotta love Fenton. He is hanging in there. I know he is asking Aimee some questions today so he can tie up all the loose ends and make sure this case is put to rest properly." Chet raised an eyebrow.
"Fenton not having much confidence in the local police?"
"Well, if you had experienced what we did, you would be pretty much on board with that line of thinking. The locals didn't do much to crack this case." Chet nodded.
"Well, I am glad he will be around. He manages to keep everyone on track."
"That he does." Iola said with a sad look in her eyes. "No matter how bad the situation, that man seems to have the mindset that keeps things where they need to be. I am envious of his constitution."
As was predicted, Maddie was quite open to staying with her aunt when Chet told her that he would need to be returning back to Long Island. Iola was less enthused about Joe departing. But understood the need for him to return home. He had been able to help stabilize her from the initial shock over Callie.
Fenton stood in the central waiting room of the medical center with his arm around Madeleine. The pair watched Iola and Joe in the distance as they embraced for what seemed the tenth time.
"Aunt Iola and Uncle Joe really must love each other." Maddie observed, a silly grin upon her face. Fenton raised an eyebrow to the youth and smiled himself.
"Be assured, they do indeed." He said, glad that no matter what had happened to make Iola take flight with Callie, that things seemed to have resolved themselves by the couple's love. He knew his son was not perfect, but he knew when it was time to step up. The past week he had been there for Iola and she was much better off as a result.
By midafternoon, Iola had left Maddie in Callie's room to give her some alone time with her mother. She decided to go see Aimee. A five-minute walk brought her to the room where Aimee had been transferred. She walked in to see Fenton Hardy sitting at the bedside with a voice recorder on the serving table. Aimee looked up, a distressed look upon her face. She relaxed a bit upon seeing Iola. Fenton looked up to his daughter in law and nodded to her with a sober expression.
"Hey, guys." Iola said with a smile. "You holding up ok, Aimee?" Aimee sniffled a bit, but nodded.
"Uh, yeah. Fenton and I were just going over some things." Iola nodded and took a seat beside Fenton. He nodded.
"Indeed. Aimee was just helping to fill in some gaps. And we were about done I think. I want Aimee to get some rest." Iola nodded and looked over to her friend.
"You need anything, sweetie? I'd be happy to get you something." Aimee, looking a bit fatigued, pushed a smile to her face and shook her head.
"I will be ok. I think I just need a nap. The doctor is still dosing me with something that makes me a bit tired." Fenton nodded.
"Well, my dear, I think in that case Iola and I will take our leave and get a cup of coffee." Aimee nodded. Glad that the questioning was over. At least for now. She knew Fenton had been kind with his inquiries and knew that he might have to ask additional questions at some point.
"Ok, and thank you for being nice." Fenton and Iola stood up. Iola pointed down to the cell phone on Aimee's table.
"You use that if you need me, girl. I am just a text away. Now, get some rest." Aimee nodded. Fenton took his voice recorder and placed it in his pocket. The pair took their leave so that Aimee could rest.
Iola took a long sip of tea as she looked out the cafeterias dining room window. Fenton looked over at her and saw the signs displayed on her face. Distress, fear, a good deal of fatigue, and of course the very obvious one, loneliness.
"You going to make it, my dear?" He asked in his ever present calm voice. Iola sighed deeply and set her cup down. She looked down at the table. Her eyes slowly rose to meet his.
"I think the better question is, will Cal make it?"
"The doctors have done everything they could, my dear. It's very much a waiting game." Iola nodded, not at all satisfied with that.
"It's just the waiting, you know? I really do need to keep my mind off of this as much as I can." She took a deep breath and forced a grim smile. "So, how did Aimee hold up with the questioning? Were you able to determine anything more about how it all happened?" Fenton nodded slowly.
"She did as well as I could expect. She was, it seems, the only one other than Callie to have talked with Jeremy to any extent before his demise. She couldn't shed any light on what happened that night after Callie came on the scene. Aimee said she was beaten pretty good after she helped Nicole escape." Fenton paused thoughtfully. "The forensics team matched the skin under Aimee's fingernails against some nasty scratches on Jeremy's face. It seemed pretty clear they had quite the exchange. To his advantage, unfortunately. Aimee's account, as well as the account that I and the child specialist from the FBI got from Nicole suggest that Aimee had fully engaged Jeremy to buy Nicole escape time. Nicole seems Aimee as her hero that saved her. And for my money, she is spot on with that. Aimee went above and beyond to protect that kid." Iola nodded soberly as she imagined the exchange.
"She is something special for sure...Anything else?" Fenton nodded.
"Yes. And more credit for Aimee having been there. As sad as the resulting drugging and assault was, I am not sure if Nicole would be in the safety of her family now if Aimee hadn't had been there. From what I gathered from my interview, Jeremy wanted Nicole and Aimee to, well, engage in..." As often as he had encountered such heinous acts, Fenton never felt comfortable describing them. Iola, fully understanding what he was implying, nodded.
"I understand."
"Well..." Fenton continued. "Aimee managed to persuade Jeremy not to dose Nicole with heroin. She feigned being a former addict who didn't want to share the drug with Nicole and gave Jeremy a good deal of innuendo to distract him. There was a plan that Aimee hatched to get him to allow Nicole to take a bath unattended and then to distract him while giving the child the opportunity to escape."
"Wow." Iola managed to utter, thinking about how it must have been so hard on Aimee to be dealing with a sicko the Jeremy. Fenton nodded.
"Yes, indeed. By the way, when she was trying to buy time for Nicole, Aimee managed to get some fairly valuable information from him."
"Oh?"
"Yes. It would seem that Jeremy's target was not Nicole, but her friend, Katie Brennan. He apparently laid out a trap by offering a very low priced swing set on a local classified to attract a victim. When Carl Brennan and his daughter checked out that swing set, apparently Jeremy had set his sights on Katie. He helped deliver the set which allowed him to find out where they lived. He then went through a great deal of daily recon to see when he could best strike. But in the end, Katie got called in for dinner and Nicole chose to stay in Katie's yard and play after she went in for dinner. She he emerged from the woods with some chloroform and snatched Nicole and took her back into the woods to an outer road. Which would make sense from the clue of the bracelet that you and Callie found." Iola nodded, wide eyed.
"Damn, that all makes sense now." She said with a deep exhale. "Say, what about Jade?" Fenton looked down at the table.
"Still in the same boat as Callie, I'm afraid. She hasn't wakened up." Iola shook her head.
"No, I mean did Aimee give you any info on her?" Fenton smiled in spite of the the topic. He shook his head and blinked.
"Sorry, my dear. I had a mental blackout there for a moment when you asked. I must be tired. But, yes. In fact, I need to get into contact with Detective Jamesson with this info. Aimee said something to the effect that Jeremy told her that she was a replacement for someone named Jade. Jade was apparently an acquaintance of his that depended on him for drugs. They were romantic. But he said that she had become unreliable and apparently deemed her to be a liability. He admitted to Aimee that he administered a hotshot to her with an added dose of fentanyl to the heroin. He had no idea that she had made it. He believed she just went off and died. I believe that is how Aimee put it. I'd have to go back to the voice recorder to check. But also, Jade was not a party to the kidnapping and was against it. Even if it was for the reason that she didn't like Jeremy needing another sexual outlet." Iola nodded.
"So, we don't know to what extent she is involved?" Fenton shook his head.
"Not entirely, anyway. It seems she had nothing to do with the kidnapping, but it's clear that she could be charged as an accomplice as she knew the whereabouts of Nicole and did nothing. She may have supplied him with help either by a misguided devotion to him. Or as I suspect, he was probably her source for her heroin and as such probably did almost anything he wanted. I really hope she wakes up and can give us some information."
"That's for sure. So, Aimee has no recollection of seeing Cal in the chapel that night?" Fenton shook his head.
"No. I strongly suspect that by the time Callie arrived, Aimee was on the floor unconscious. Aimee said he had done his final beating of her in that front room where we found her. She said he beat the hell out of her, and then after he became aware Nicole was on the loose he went crazy and gave her a swift kick in the head and that after that she only remembers coming to in the hospital." He paused and his eyes shifted out the window. "She may recollect more at some point if she came to consciousness at all during that time. But for now it was all she could remember."
"Well, it sounds like she tied up a couple loose ends. Sadly, the ever present question of why it all had to go down in the first place will always be out there." Fenton gave her a sober nod.
"That, my dear, is usually something which often times, is never known to the satisfaction of those involved. All we can really know is that we can't control why sick and vile people do what they do. Beyond the obvious that they are mentally disturbed. Which gives little satisfaction to those who were the victims. Aimee and Nicole suffered violations of their being on multiple levels. Violations that no human should ever have to know. Nicole has a hard road back for sure as she has limited ability to comprehend it all. I know it is of little consolation, but I am grateful the sick bastard didn't hook her on heroin on top of everything else."
"Yeah..." Iola muttered blankly. "Do we know how much of that crap Aimee got?
"Not for certain, but Aimee believes he only dosed her once. But admits that after the first dose, she was not herself and consciously aware of much. She doesn't even clearly remember the details of the rape. She knew it happened, of course. But either by drug inducement, or the mind's own ability to block trauma out, she doesn't remember the manner in which he took liberties with her."
"For the best..." Iola said quietly.
"Perhaps...for now." Fenton countered. "But one can't repress that forever. She will need to cope and work through it at some point. But yes, for now she just needs to physically recover. Luckily she is on track for that happening."
"Yeah." Iola said, then took a deep breath. "Well, I best check on my niece and Cal."
"How did Madeleine take Chet's departure?" Fenton inquired. Iola smirked.
"Well, she didn't cry, if that's what you were asking. But she is way more worried about what will happen to Callie than to give great amounts of thought or concern to if he dad is by her side or not. I don't want to speak ill of Chet, but I guess I expected something more from him, you know? I remember when they first connected romantically. He was so focused on Cal's happiness. They were so happy together. And they stayed that way for quite some time. Even in spite of the money." Iola fell silent for a moment and looked down. "that damn money." Fenton reached across the table and placed his hand on her shoulder.
"My dear, we all choose our paths. I remember that time well. I know when it all started. And honestly, sometimes when I think about it, I blame myself partly." Iola's eyes perked.
"Why would you blame yourself?" Fenton shook his head.
"I didn't say I blamed myself in any general fashion. But I did help facilitate things that kicked it all off. With that reward they got for the jewelry. I was primarily doing it to get you and Callie out of that hollow and at least back to safety, even if temporarily. I figured sending Chet back with you two would allow the rest of us to investigate and address the clear danger that I knew was there. I honestly never dreamed the reward the two would get would have been that substantial. I thought it would have been far less. An amount that wouldn't change their lives. And then later when we recovered the hidden money in Colorado, I made sure each of you had a piece of that reward. Most of you did what you were supposed to do with it, put it into a long term investment that you couldn't touch for twenty years. As you know, Frank and Joe gave up half of their reward to charity. I know you locked that money up for your old age. Even if Joe didn't. But I feel that at least for Callie and Chet, it was even more money to eventually get misguided by. I don't fault Chet for making even more money out of what he had. It's a good thing to have that security. But I don't have to tell you that in some ways it made him a different person." Iola nodded.
"You get no argument from me on that count, Fenton. And Callie knew it too. She liked the money at first, but then realized what a curse it was more often than not. As the kids came, it became even more of a crutch. Something to depend on to make up for things they should have done themselves. But I guess now is hardly the time to cast judgment." She finished quietly. The ever ongoing thought of her best friend laying down in a coma was eating at her. Fenton gave her a kind smile.
"No judgment, my dear. You are a beautiful person. Never forget that. Now, you better get down there and check on Madeleine." Iola smiled to her father in law and gave a short nod.
"Yeah..."