Finding Fiona (9 page)

“
You showed this to the police?”
Hannah asked.

“
Yeah, but supposedly Greg was
working all day,” James said. “It could have been Daniel, but he
got in that car wreck–oh! Fiona, tell Keith about the car and the
girl.”

Fiona told Keith about the two memories she’d
written in her journal, the first where she was fairly sure she
wrecked the car by attacking the driver and the second that took
place in a car with another girl her age.

“
There was another girl in the
car?” Keith repeated. “What did she look like?”

Fiona shrugged. “The only thing I remember is
brown hair… I was too busy worrying about my stomach.”

Keith swore under his breath. “That could be
anyone.”

Fiona’s anger flared. “Sorry, I just don’t
remember. If I did, we wouldn’t be in this situation.”

Keith met her eyes. “I know, I didn’t mean
anything by it… I want to find the truth just as much as you
do.”

Fiona doubted that.

“
But the car wreck!” James said,
his eyes bright. He pointed at the screen. “Daniel wrecked on the
highway right next to Mystic.” Fiona leaned in. A short news
article was copied and pasted into a word processor, reporting
about Professor Daniel Alaria in a car crash. He was even
hospitalized at Lawrence Memorial Hospital.

“
That’s the hospital I took you
to,” Hannah said quietly.

Fiona rubbed her eyes. “Oh, my gosh.” To
think, she’d been that close to the man that had kidnapped her and
hadn’t even known it.

Hannah crossed her arms. “Why didn’t Fiona end
up in the hospital if she actually crashed the car?” She paused,
biting her lip. “Now that I think of it, you did have a lot of
little scratches… but not enough that the nurses thought you were
in a car wreck…”

“
I escaped somehow. Maybe Daniel’s
brother followed me… stabbed me twice…” But all of a sudden, she’d
been in the car with the girl. What had happened? Why couldn’t she
make the connection between the two memories?

“
But that girl… she saved your
life,” Keith said.

“
Or she dumped me on the beach to
die.”

“
No, I don’t think so… why were you
suddenly with her and not Greg Alaria? Why’d she take you to the
harbor where there were people?” Keith bit his nails, staring at
the laptop screen as James continued to move windows
around.

“
Then why didn’t she take me to the
hospital herself?” Fiona asked. Of course they didn’t know. Neither
did she. She could just add it to the list of unknowns in her
past.

They spoke awhile about the Alarias. James
found a newspaper article about Greg Alaria’s fertility clinic
winning awards. She studied the picture of Greg: he had a long nose
and dark, thinning hair. His face was familiar to her, just like
James and Keith’s. They found a picture of Daniel for Fiona, too:
he was a bit younger with thicker hair, but they had the same
features. They looked so normal.

They tried to put the pieces together, working
out a possible timeline for the day of the fire, going over Fiona’s
memories of the day, theorizing, arguing. As the conversation
stilled an hour later, Fiona suddenly felt exhausted. She didn’t
want to talk about the fire anymore or the day Hannah had found
her.

She leaned forward, setting her elbows on her
knees. “Now what?”

James and Keith exchanged glances. “I think
you should stay here,” James said.

“
Even though you’re afraid of the
Alarias seeing her?” Hannah asked, narrowing her eyes.

“
After the article, they’re going
to be searching for her in Boston, which is four hours
away.”

“
If they’ve seen the article,”
Keith added.

Hannah motioned toward the window. “And if
they haven’t, then they’re right here in New York.”

“
It’s a big city,” Keith said. “If
we’re careful, they’re not going to see us walking on the street.”
He paused, meeting Fiona’s eyes. “Unless, of course, you want to go
back to Boston”

Fiona slowly shook her head and looked at
Hannah. “I want to stay here.”

Hannah let out a sigh. “Okay, let’s stay for
tonight.”

* * *

Keith left the house to buy them food and an
air mattress to sleep on. James led Fiona and Hannah to Elizabeth’s
old room, which had the items that hadn’t been lost to the
fire.

“
So, that uncle… he paid for the
rebuilding of the house?” Fiona asked as James rummaged through the
boxes.

“
It was mostly insurance,” James
said. “Nearly everything went to Walter, and he took the insurance
policy and did what he could to help it.”

Walter. Uncle Walter. Why wasn’t he here? She
was about to ask about him when James cut in.

“
Ah, here it is.”

They sat on the floor around James, who had
moved a box from near the window. Fiona ran her fingers over the
gray carpet, again feeling déjà vu. She moved closer to James,
looking inside the box once he opened it. A faint odor of smoke
rose from the photo albums, picture frames, and other
memorabilia.

James handed her a black shoebox. “This is
mostly baby stuff.”

Fiona gingerly lifted the lid off. She and
Hannah sorted through the items, all of which were slightly
discolored from smoke. She found a baby announcement, complete with
hand and footprints shorter than her pointer finger.

“
Proof you existed,” James
said.

“
Too bad Elizabeth Normans is
officially dead,” Fiona said, handing Hannah the announcement.
Fiona’s heart pounded as she looked through photos of her as a baby
and toddler. A picture at the hospital, a Polaroid with Santa, a
photo of her in a bathing suit with her mother. She couldn’t pry
her eyes from the pictures and didn’t want to. The sense of déjà vu
that had plagued her all day mixed with wonder and
amazement.

Hannah sniffled, a few tears falling down her
cheeks. “You were adorable.”

“
Are you crying?” Fiona
whispered.

Hannah half-laughed, half-sobbed, and she
wrapped an arm around Fiona. “I’m glad you brought us here,
James.”

“
I know, I can’t believe it.” Fiona
blinked back her own tears. “This is actually
happening.”

They continued to go through the shoebox. A
lock of hair, congratulations cards from family and friend, a small
pink outfit. James showed them a photo album, and Fiona sat between
James and Hannah, the album on her lap, her back against more
boxes. She soaked in the pictures, every detail, every color, every
face. Certain scenes stuck out to her, nagging at the edges of her
memory. It was mostly her and her parents, and occasionally other
faces would appear.

Halfway through the book, Fiona froze. “Oh, my
god.”

She was staring at a picture of herself–or
Elizabeth, she wasn’t sure how to refer to the girl in the
pictures–with Fiona Normans and another man at a lake. It was clear
from their features the man was Fiona Normans’s brother–Elizabeth’s
uncle. Troy.

“
Oh, my god,” Hannah
echoed.

“
What?” James asked.

“
That’s…” Fiona trailed off. She
couldn’t even say his name.

“
Troy,” Hannah said, her voice
shaking. “That’s Troy, that’s my boyfriend.”

“
What?” James said. “No, his name’s
Walter. He’s the uncle I was talking about.”

Hannah swore. Fiona wanted to do a lot more
than that.

“
Wait, are you serious?” James
asked. “He’s–I don’t understand.”

“
I’ve been going out with him for
three months!” Hannah stood up and started pacing. “He’s
practically living at my place, and he–I can’t believe this.” She
took out her phone. “I’m calling him right now.”

“
What if he’s working with the
Alarias?” Fiona asked.

Hannah and James stared at her. “No,” James
said. “No, he’s not…”

Fiona pushed away the photo album and stood
up. “Why did he take that journal? Hannah, why was he with you for
three months? He didn’t tell you, he didn’t tell me! He lied! I
can’t believe him.” Her stomach was starting to turn.

“
I… I just know Walter–” James
began, his voice uncertain.

“
Really, James?” Fiona spat. “Three
months! I could have come home!”

“
I know. Look, I’m pissed, too,
but…”

“
But what?” Fiona turned to Hannah,
holding out her hand. “Give me the phone.”

Hannah stared at her for a moment.
Fiona swore and went to find her own phone. Her hands shook as she
wrenched through her purse. Her face was warm with anger, and she
found Troy in her contacts–out of her
twelve
contacts–and put the phone to
her ear.

“
Fiona, do you really think this is
a good idea?” James asked.

“
Shut up!” Fiona snapped. James’s
face fell, and she felt bad for a moment, but her fury washed over
her. She couldn’t believe it.

“
If you really think he’s working
with the Alarias, then he’ll tell them where you are,” Hannah
said.

“
This is his house, isn’t it? I’m
hardly safe here if he’s with them,” Fiona said.

“
Fiona?” Troy answered.

Fiona clenched her fists at the sound of his
voice and she closed her eyes. “Hi, Walter.”

Troy didn’t respond.

She let out a hollow laugh. “You’re not even
going to deny it?”

“
Fiona–”

“
You worthless bastard, I knew
there was something wrong with you!” Fiona yelled. “How long would
you have lied to me? To Hannah? A year, maybe two?”

“
I was protecting you–” Troy
began.

Fiona dropped the phone on the
ground, barely restraining herself by not throwing it out the
window. “I can’t speak to him,” she said before fleeing to the
bathroom. She slammed the door shut and dropped on the ground next
to the toilet. Her entire body was shaking, and she felt as though
she was on fire. How dare he try to say he was
protecting
her?

If she’d disliked Troy before, she now hated
him. He’d lied to both of them for months. Troy wasn’t even his
real name. He could have told her who she was. She could have
avoided so much pain and confusion.

Although, it wasn’t as if she was any less
confused now that she was with James, in her childhood home. If
anything, she had more questions. And the pain… looking at those
pictures, that memorabilia, and thinking it might not even be her
in those pictures. None of it may even belong to her. She may just
be an experiment, something bred for the purposes of science, not
created in an act of love, not… human. It made her so sick she
thought she was going to throw up.

For a moment, she forgave Troy for his lies
and deception, for sinking her into the ignorance that kept her
from the harsh truth of her past. But then she thought of her
sleepless nights, the rumors in the neighborhood, the appointments
at the Social Security office, the blank slate she’d had all
summer, and she hated him again.

After a few moments, she realized she wasn’t
going to throw up; it was just her emotions stirring her stomach.
She leaned her head on the porcelain, holding back tears. How could
he do this to her? Her only family member had lied to her. He
recognized her journal, too; that’s why he’d taken it. She’d never
forgive him.

* * *

Minutes later, Fiona returned to the bedroom,
where Hannah and James stood. Hannah stared down at her hand, which
held Fiona’s phone.

“
You didn’t talk to him?” Fiona
asked, her voice tight.

Hannah took a shaky breath. “I can’t right
now. I can’t even…”

“
Well, I don’t want to look at
anything else,” Fiona said, her gaze on the photo album on James’s
lap. “I’m mentally exhausted.”

“
Okay,” James said as he nodded.
“It’ll all be here whenever you do want to.” He started to put the
things away. He muttered something under his breath that sounded
like, “I’ll kill him.”

Fiona massaged her forehead. “You guys have
any movies here? I just want to zone out.”

“
Keith has tons of movies,” James
said. “Maybe not your kind. They’re mostly blow-em-all-to-hell kind
of movies.”

“
Anything’s fine.” Fiona paused.
“Do you think Walter will come here?”

James stared at the boxes. “Probably. That
bastard. I talked to him about you… and he kept telling me to leave
you alone… I should have known something was up. He was acting so
weird.”

“
What do you mean?” Fiona suddenly
put up her hands. “You know what, I don’t want to know. Tell me
later, but if I find out anything else about Troy or Walter or
whatever you want to call him, I’m going to hurt someone.” She took
a deep breath. “Tomorrow, we should find out who the girl in the
car was.”