Chapter 19

Laura was on cloud nine for the next 2 weeks. All she talked about was Sam until we went home. We had to go back early because school started in the middle of August for Laura and me. Caleb was a little shocked when he saw what we'd done to ourselves. Bobby had to explain when we did it and about the job we worked with dad and the boys.

We put off telling Caleb where we were going to college for the first week. I knew he was gonna be upset about it. He told us we couldn't go to school in Kansas because of our past history there. We could have gone to any school in the country because of our A C T and S A T scores. We had full scholarships to cover everything, no matter where we decided to go.

I hated to do that to Caleb, but we needed to know. Laura had been asking dad since he took us from Kansas about why he'd left us and he never answered her. I had a small feeling that we shouldn't be prying, but my curiosity was greater. The one decision of dad's had practically destroyed our lives and fractured our family. We needed answers and we were going to get them.

We were packing our stuff for school when we finally told Caleb where we were going. He reacted exactly like I thought he would. He yelled and argued with us. He did everything he could to change our minds. He finally gave in as we were loading our stuff in the car.

We wanted to get to school a week early so we could do a little digging into our family history. We also wanted to be able to find our way around campus so we didn't get lost on our way to our classes. We were both running really heavy class loads. Laura was going into pre-law and I was going pre-med. We thought those 2 professions would come in very handy with the line of work we were really going to be doing.

We also picked them because of mom and our paternal grandparents. Mom was gonna go to med school, until she fell in love with dad and got pregnant with Dean. Dad's parents were both lawyers. They wanted him to follow in their footsteps and eventually take over the family practice. He joined the Marines instead because he didn't want to be a lawyer. They both died shortly after Laura and I were born.

It felt weird to be back home again. I'd been gone 3 years, it was longer for Laura, cept for when dad came and got me. Caleb dropped us off at Missouri's. We were gonna be staying with her while we were going to school. I think that was the main reason Caleb stopped fighting us. He had called her before we left Nevada.

Since we weren't old enough to drive yet, we had to walk everywhere or take a cab. We went to see Mike at the garage first. We told him our cover names and that we were friends of Laura and Kate Winchester, we were hoping he could help us track ourselves down. We chatted for a bit and he told us what he'd heard about us. We finally got him to talk about dad and the night he left.

Mike told us that he'd called social services on dad because he was worried. Dad was leaving the boys with mom's friend Julie for longer and longer periods. He seemed to become increasingly paranoid about everything. He said dad was convinced that something was after the boys. Everyone wanted dad to go see a shrink, but dad refused.

The day dad left Laura and me, the cops had been searching for him all night long. Mike said that Julie had been found in pieces all over her house. They suspected dad was involved somehow because some one saw his car speeding away from the scene. The witness said that he'd had a woman with him as well as the 2 boys. Mike said no one had seen or heard from dad since.

We asked Mike if he knew why dad had left his girls behind. Mike said he really didn't know. He thought mom's family had hidden us from him when they heard the cops were looking for dad. Mike said he tried to keep in touch with us, but mom's family wouldn't allow it. They told him that no one involved with dad was allowed to have any contact with us because they were afraid dad would show up and disappear with us too.

We thanked Mike for all his help and went back to Missouri's. We pinned her down after one of her clients left and started grilling her. She told us that dad had come to see her after he picked the boys up from where we were staying. She also told us about a house she'd taken dad too and a message on the wall. The message was written in blood. It said "We're coming for the children."

She and dad had rushed over to Julie's and found her all over the place. Dad rushed upstairs, but the boys were completely fine. He packed up their stuff and they left. He dropped her off at her house and that was the last time she'd seen him until the night he came and picked me up from her house. She didn't know he'd left us behind until the next day.

When we finished talking to Missouri, we went upstairs to my room. We started talking over everything we learned that day and figured there was still a huge piece missing. Probably several huge pieces. We decided to go talk to mom's uncle the next day. We knew that's where we'd been staying before "they" came and took us to Wichita.

I couldn't get something out of my head. Everyone said that dad was worried something was after the boys, but he thought Laura and I were safe. I couldn't understand why. What would make him think that? Given what had actually happened that night, Dean should have been the only one that was safe. He wasn't in the room when mom was killed.