The Promise (10 page)

Gallagher spoke first, “I don’t believe what he said about Mrs. Taylor. I don’t see that in her. Justin Shaw doesn’t strike me as someone deep enough to understand people all that well.“

The Chief nodded, “Took the words right out of my mouth.”

Chapter Twelve--something Evil

             
On Saturday afternoon, as Elie rested in her dorm room, surveying the way she and Verna had decorated it, she felt a little better about her undercover assignment.

Verna was nothing like her sleazy brother and even though Elie couldn’t truly be best friends with her, she did feel that her roommate was a good person and someone she could co-exist with as she investigated the Taylor mystery. Lying on her bed, she thumbed through the latest Cosmopolitan she had purchased that morning. 

Thinking sarcastically to herself,
“Great stuff! I always wanted to know if I had more than one G-spot!”

Shaking her head, she smiled as she realized how silly police work could be sometimes. Here she was, an adult woman, pretending to be a teenage girl. As she got off her bed to change her top into something more casual, a lightweight v-necked sweater, she heard a knock on the door.

Quickly slipping the sweater on, Elie opened it and was more than a little stunned to see the assistant headmaster, Dr. Oden, standing there.

“Yes?” She hesitantly responded.

Dr. Oden stood there smiling smugly, “How are you, Ms. Kelly? Are your accommodations all right here?”

Elie thought this was a bit odd. “
The girls had a chaperone, Miss Neville, who took care of their logistical needs. What was he doing here?”

“Yes, everything is fine, Dr. Oden. Is Miss Neville off today?”

Oden responded coyly, “Could be. Or maybe I just wanted to personally make certain you were comfortable. We make an effort to do that with our newer students. Is everything okay?”

Elie warily looked at him. Why was he  standing there gazing at her. “
Was he coming on to her?
“

If so, he was taking a huge risk. He could be fired immediately for any brazen attempt to seduce a girl who was underage. As he kept staring at her and smiling, she couldn’t comprehend his warped confidence.

Maybe she was reading him wrong. She hoped she was. “Oh, I’m not that special, Dr. Oden. I’m just one of the gang.  But, thank you for your interest. Have a nice day.”

As she moved to gently close the door, the assistant headmaster muscled the door back open and let himself into the room.

“No need to dismiss me, Ms. Kelly. It’s the weekend. People don’t work on the weekend, they play. And most of them are out playing somewhere else today.”

He then sent a chill through her with his ensuing question, “Do you like to play, Bree?”

Elie was speechless. She was awestruck at his behavior. At the very least, he was flirting with her. She didn’t want to think of the very worst, since he was now in her room with no one else around.

She also realized she had to be careful not to do anything that would jeopardize her cover as a high school student. This was a very disconcerting position she found herself in. 

              “I’m sorry, Dr. Oden, but I don’t feel comfortable with you in my room. I would appreciate it if you left right now. Please.”

Dr. Oden’s smile disappeared, “I will leave when I choose to leave, Miss Kelly. Understand? And, I don’t choose to leave at this moment.

He turned and locked the door.

I want you to sit down on your bed now.”

                   Elie was shocked at his words. Part of her wanted to play it out, show him her badge and put him away for fifteen years to life.

The other part of her wanted to stay calm and keep up her impersonation as a Colony student and get him to leave without any damage being done to either of them.

She did not come to Athens to be involved sexually with Malcolm Oden. But, she didn’t want to blow her cover, either.

She sat down obediently on the bed.

              “That’s a good girl, Bree. I need to see that kind of response in you. It is important that my girls understand the rules and abide by them. We are off to an excellent start here.”

Elie’s mind was racing now,
“My girls? Is that what he just said?”

She was trying to process the words he was using but it wasn’t computing properly. What kind of person was he? She sat there, waiting for his next move.

Dr. Oden walked over to the bed and sat down beside her. “I want you to look at me, Bree. Look into my eyes. And, don’t look away. Do you understand?”

Elie almost laughed in his face, but she needed to play along to find out what his motive was here. So, she followed his lead.

Oden then began to stroke her hair, entwining it in his fingers and caressing it around her neck area. Elie squirmed uncomfortably. “No, do not move while I do this, Bree. Stay focused. Keep looking at me and think of a time in your life when you loved a boy with all your heart. Remember his face. Remember the romantic moment.”

Elie was dumbfounded. “
What was this?”

She had never experienced a situation like this before. She kept staring at him in disbelief. His eyes seemed to be boring right through her.

“You have a lot of passion inside you, Bree. I can feel it. You want to help people. You want to make them happy. You are sad when you see someone in pain. It is because you yourself had a lot of pain.

Isn’t that right, Bree?”

              Elie was now feeling very uncomfortable.

Not only was he creepy, he was insightful.

Oden continued, “Something happened when you were a child that made you feel helpless, didn’t it? Something bad that involved your friend, what was her name? It starts with a B.

Was it Barbara?”

Elie gasped to herself. She could not believe what her own voice openly admitted to him,

“No, Belinda. Her name was Belinda.”

Dr. Oden smiled, “Yes, Bree, her name was Belinda. And, she had a very wicked father didn’t she?”

Elie’s mind was racing now. She was being drawn into this engagement involuntarily but, she was shocked at his psychic ability and she had no choice but to respond truthfully,

“Yes, she did. He was not a nice man.”

The doctor smiled and began squeezing the sides of her neck gently as if to extract the truth out of her, “And, you told your friend, Belinda, that she would be safe with you, yes?”

Elie nodded yes.

“And, so, the two of you went to a secret place, to hide from him. So, you could protect her, didn’t you,
Bree?”

Another nod.

“Bree, you like secrets, don’t you?”

Another yes.

Elie was now having trouble breathing. Dr. Oden’s eyes were mesmerizing her. “Especially, if those secrets help people, right?”

Elie responded, “Yes, that’s correct, Dr. Oden.”

Was she was being hypnotized?

His eyes continued to hold hers captive. His hands now were under her neck and his fingertips were gracefully sliding back and forth gently under her chin like singsong feathers.

She was feeling more and more helpless with his each and every move. Her resolve was evaporating.

              “I feel you have a secret right now, Bree. It is a very special secret. Are you hiding something, Bree?”

Elie felt chills running through her.

It was everything she could do to stop from blurting out her real identity. He was really getting to her now. All she could do was shake her head from side to side.

“No, I, uh, don’t have a secret.”

Dr. Oden pressed his advantage, “Bree, do not lie to me. Look at me deeper. Let your soul come through your eyes. Let it connect with my soul. Tell me the truth, Bree. You want me to know the truth. You want to respond to me. You want to obey me.”

At that point, his fingers moved down past her collarbone area to the V in her blouse, making her skin tingle as they teased the opening leading to her breasts.

Elie felt powerless,
“
This cannot be happening!”
Her mind screamed to her, “
Stop him!’

But, he took Elie’s hand and wrapped it around his index finger causing both their hands to move downward inside her sweater.

Elie suddenly felt terrified,. ”
He is making me do his seduction for him!”

Her hand clasped around his finger as they explored together under her sweater and he began to touch her intimately between her breasts, teasing the swelling of them on both sides.

She tried to close her eyes to break the spell. Her head was spinning. “
This has to stop!”
Oden would have none of that. “Open your eyes, Bree. Look at me!”

She obeyed his command.

He then continued his mesmerizing exploration of her.

Elie felt powerless.

“Bree, you like what I am doing to you. You want to be close to me. I am here with you. You helped Belinda, now we can help your new friend. Do you feel me touching your soul, Bree?”

Elie nodded wordlessly as Dr. Oden moved his index finger at will under her sweater. “You are a good girl. You have always been a good girl, a good girl whose heart is pounding right now.”

Elie nodded her assent. But, even good girls have secrets, don’t they Bree?

Elie was overwhelmed now both physically and psychologically. “
How did he know about Belinda? What is happening to me? I want to tell him everything. I have to tell him…”

“Now, tell me the secret, tell me. I feel it, you feel it. Tell, me your secret. It is time, Bree.”

At that moment Elie was prepared to tell Dr. Oden anything he wanted. She had no defenses left.

He had a power over her that she had never experienced in her life. Her mouth was forming the words to give him the truth,

“Yes, Dr. Oden, I have many secrets. I am actually an FBI agent. I am working undercover to find out if anyone at this school had anything to do with the disappearance of Allison Taylor, and there is more…”

As she opened her mouth to reveal everything, she heard a key being inserted in the door lock.