spacegirl23- I'm glad you like my Maria!
tequathisy - Alex just rocks.
twilight - I think you hit the nail on the head, Max does want someone to love him, and I think more importantly he wants to be able to love them back. That may take awhile......
Rowedog - The assignments just stay with the Professor unless the students tell others about it.
sarammlover - Thanks! I appreciate it!
nibbles - You are so right, it is more than secrets coming between them, but hopefully they'll figure that out
keepsmiling - I always thought that Max, any version of Max, wouldn't be proud if he was like that. He may try to justify it, but if it came down to it it just isn't like the Max we know and love to be a Man Ho.
destinyc - Yep, I think so too. I had debated on whether to have the Professor have a secret of his own, a reason for doing the assignment, and I thought it would make the story better to go in that direction.
Natalie - I think that Max thinks it's going to be way more harsh then it actually will be. Liz is pretty well adjusted considering, and she's been dealing with it, wanting to move forward, since her talk with Kyle. Remember Max doesn't know her well so he figures it's going to tear her apart.
Chapter 11
"I know Maria, I'm sorry," Liz said appologetically. "It just didn't feel right to talk about it at the time. We'll call you when we are on our way home."
Alex had been listening to Liz get the third degree. They hadn't told Maria about Professor Smith's confession and she had heard about it from other people. He heard Liz say her goodbyes and shut off the cell phone.
"Well that was relatively painless," she said as she stared at the beautiful country side. The East coast really was beautiful this time of year, and they were about a half hour away from their destination.
Alex quickly glanced at Liz and raised his eyebrow. "Only relatively?" he asked.
"Well, she understood because of..." Liz said as she stopped mid-sentence. She took a deep breath. "She understood because she knows how we would feel if people were spreading around how we were taken by human trafficers and almost sold into slavery."
"Wow," Alex said, letting out a low whistle.
"Yeah, wow," Liz said looking out the window. "Why don't we ever talk about it Alex?"
"I guess we were so sick of hearing everyone else talk about it that we just kind of made it an unofficial off-topic conversation," Alex said.
"That makes sense," Liz responded. "I hate how it is just this secret, this really big secret over our head," she said passionately. "It's almost like we're ashamed, and we did nothing to be ashamed of."
"I totally agree," Alex said.
"It just really puts it in perspective," Liz said. She had been thinking about Professor Smith's ordeal since he had revealed he had been molested. "I mean, everyone knows that bad people are out there, and God knows we know that, but the Professor, being violated by someone he is supposed to trust, for who knows how long...."
"I know," Alex said quietly. "We were taken by strangers, by people you hear about but think you'll never meet, but Professor Smith...Having those things done to him by someone he is supposed to respect, someone he is supposed to listen to, I can't even imagine."
"I'm sure he can't imagine being beaten, threatened, and waiting for five days to be sold off to the highest bidder, to hear about all the things that will happen to you, to see other kids dragged off drugged, to hear them being raped," Liz said, closing her eyes against the thought.
"True," Alex said. "No one can know but us and other people that have been through that, although we are in a very, very small minority. Most people don't get away."
Liz nodded. It wasn't the only thing that bound them together, this she knew, but it was a huge thing that kept the three of them so tight, not letting anyone else in.
"But," Alex continued, "I bet we are a million times likely to NEVER have a traumatic experience again. We are more careful, we watch more. I mean, last night, did you see those girls at the bar? A guy could just walk up and give them a drink. You wouldn't drink anything that you didn't see poured yourself. In a way we will be safer than the general public for the rest of our lives."
Liz gave Alex a small smile. That was Alex. He could always bring out the positive.
"Yes, I guess we are," she said. "Alright, enough of that. We need a plan for when we get into town."
Alex was the one to smile then. Liz and her plans.
"Well I found nothing on The Evans being in Hanover. Zilch. I tried to find out if they practiced law here, but nothing," he said.
"I know, I came up with nothing also," Liz admitted. They had spent an hour or so desperately searching the town of Hanover before they hit the road. They both knew Hanover was the missing piece, as it seemed as though The Evans and their children dropped into Washington DC when Max and Michael were eight years old. They could find nothing of any of them before that. "What I did find though, was a local diner, The Patriot."
"And that will help us how?" Alex asked.
"See, this is where you show a handicap for not working with the public in the food industry," Liz said. "Diners are a place where locals hang out. I knew everything about everyone from working at the Crash. I bet they even have an Agnes, someone that's worked there forever," she contemplated.
"So we hang with the locals and see if we can get any info?" Alex asked.
"Exactly," Liz said.
Ten minutes later they pulled into the Red, White and Blue monstrosity that was The Patriot. "This almost makes the Crash look classy," Alex pondered as Liz punched him in the arm.
"I'm seriously beginning to worry that you and Maria have an unnatural attachment to violence," Alex said, rubbing his arm.
Liz smiled as a young hostess seated them. "Your waitress will be with you in one minute," the pretty young blonde said as she looked around the nearly empty restaurant. "Madge? You have customers," she called, shaking her head as she walked to the kitchen.
A woman who looked rode hard and hung up wet appeared from the backroom five minutes later, smelling of smoke. Her leathery skin made her look much older then she actually was, but Liz would have guessed her to be around 45 or 50.
"Hi, I'm Madge, and I'll be your waitress, I mean server," she said looking disgusted as she said the word 'server'. "What can I get you?"
Liz pretended to read the menu. "I'm not sure, we aren't from around here," she said. "We're just in Hanover to do some research for a project, what would you recommend?"
This got Madge's attention. "You can't go wrong with a Constitution Burger," she said. "What are you all researching?" she asked curiously.
Liz hid her smile behind her menu as Alex took over. "Well we are in our final year of college, and will hopefully be going to the FBI after that," he said, giving Madge one of his winning smiles. "We have to look up old cases, so we were assigned the Max, Isabel, and Michael case."
If there was no mention of The Evans, then Alex had figured maybe they had changed their name. He only hoped their first names remained the same.
Liz gave Alex a small smile from across the table and mentally crossed her fingers. It had to work, and once she saw Madge's eyes light up, she knew it had.
"Well I haven't heard those names in years," Madge said, placing a hand on her hip. "It sure did cause a stir back then, but that was God, it has had to of been 18 years ago. The Guerin's up and left not long after the kidnapping."
"Yes, that's right," Liz said. "We have to research sensational cases and come write a report, so we figured the best way to do that was to come here."
"Well let me take your order and I'll see what I can do to help," she said almost gleefully.
Liz and Alex both gave her fake smiles and said their thanks along with their orders. Madge was just like those people that waited with baited breath for the next piece of gossip on them.
"So their last name was Guerin," Alex said.
"And they were kidnapped," Liz finished quietly.
Madge came back soon carrying an orange soda for Alex and a cherry coke for Liz. Liz thought it was probably the fastest she had moved in years.
"So what do you want to know?" Madge asked, sliding in the booth next to Alex who tried not to inhale her smoke stench. "I've got a break coming to me and the dinner rush doesn't happen for an hour or so."
Liz had to try as hard as she could not to roll her eyes. "Basically we know nothing," she said slowly. "Just that they were kidnapped. That is part of the project, to figure out what happened."
"No wonder they picked that case," Madge said. "The Guerin's did everything they could to supress it, but you can't stop people from talking."
"That's what we were counting on," Alex said. "Did you know Phillip and Diane?"
"We all went to school together, sure," Madge said. "But we ran in different circles. Phillip Guerin and Diane Evans were the studious type. I was a cheerleader," she said proudly.
"I can see that," Alex said as she beamed, not realizing that he wasn't serious.
"I did know Phillip's brother Rick though," Madge said. "He was a lot of fun, but he got to caught up in the 80's partying. A little to much coke, a little too much heroine. He got himself into all kinds of trouble and headed to New York."
"Anyway, he hooked up with this girl Suzy we all knew, who was just as much trouble as Rick. He knocked her up, and rumor is she was killed in some kind of drug deal gone wrong, no one knows for sure because Rick wouldn't fess up. Suzy had inherited this old farmhouse from her folks, and since at the time Rick was the only one who knew Suzy was dead, took up residence in there and made it his headquarters for the operation."
"So no one knew Suzy wasn't alive?" Liz asked.
"Hell, no one knew Suzy and Rick even had a kid. He was wanted for some robberies and things around here, he split and no one had heard from him since. It seems he got into trouble, some big trouble back in New York City and needed money. He had heard through the grape vine that his brother had married and they were both lawyers, so I guess that's where he got the idea to kidnap their kids," she said.
"So Max and Isabel's Uncle was the one that kidnapped them?" Liz asked.
"Yep. Shocking, I know. The really bad part was he used his son Michael to lure them in at a playground. I can just imagine the upbringing that kid had before Phillip and Diane took him in," Madge said. "His Ma allegedly straightened up while pregnant with him, but why she stayed with Rick is beyond me. She was killed as a warning to Rick."
"That's terrible," Alex said.
"It sure is," Madge said. "So anyway, he used Michael to lure the Guerin kids so that he could take them, and he pretty much locked them in a basement for 6 months. You see, Rick had over estimated how much to newly minted lawyers would make, and they didn't have the ransom. He thought he'd have them a month or so, and he had trained Michael how to live in the basement by himself."
"Oh my God," Liz said, her hand flying to her mouth.
"Truly," Madge replied. "He dumped them down there and would return every week or so with food and to take a picture to send to Phillip and Diane. He told them if they went to the police he'd kill them spot on, but if they made payments until he was paid off he'd return them. At first I think the Guerin's figured he'd return them right away, but after a month they involved the local police. It didn't do a lot of good," she said.
"Why not?" Alex asked.
"Oh, they took it seriously, knowing Rick's reputation, but they didn't involve the FBI at first. You know, they wrote it off as a family thing. Well Rick found out they were talking to the police and went balistic. He took a picture with a gun to Max's head and sent it to them via a friend from New York. The Guerin's kept paying to a different location without telling the police."
"And they were left down there alone all that time?" Liz asked.
"Yep, six months. The boys finally figured a way out. Smart ones, those two. It is amazing what a four year old can do. They had figured that when he came to drop off food that he wasn't back for awhile, so the last time he dropped off food they managed to get out a small window. Little Max knew about 911, and they went in the house and dialed it. The FBI were involved by that time, and they rescued them."
"So then Phillip and Diane took Michael in?" Alex asked.
"Surprisingly enough, yes," Madge said. "I mean I know it isn't a four year old's fault, but you would think they wouldn't want to help the kid that lured their own kids away. I guess they are better people than me."
"I guess so," Liz said pointedly as Alex nudged her under the table.
"Anyway, fat lot of good it would have done them. The kids had a fit when they tried to seperate them. The boys were real skinny, filthy, but that little girl....She was just as squeaky clean and chubby as the day she was taken. They took real good care of her, those boys. Max was screaming that Michael was his brother when the social worker tried to take him away, holding on to him for dear life," Madge explained. "The authorities wanted him in foster care at first while things were straightened out, but everyone felt so sorry for the three of them that they let him go home with them."
It was a cold meal and an hour later, when Alex and Liz stood in the damp, dark basement that was Max, Isabel, and Michael's prison for six months.
Liz rubbed her arms, shivers going straight through her body. "Can you imagine how scared they were?" she asked quietly.
"No I can't," Alex said, "and that's a lot coming from me, from someone who has been truly terrified."
"They were so little," Liz said as a tear slid down her cheek. "That must have been where they got out," Liz pointed towards the one window in the basement.
"How the hell did they get up there?" Alex asked. Most of the things that had been kept in the basement were gone. There was only a disgusting looking half finished bathroom and a filthy matress. He went to pick the matress up.
"Dear God I hope it didn't smell this bad when they were here," he said, and then noticed a small slit in the side. He reached his hand in and pulled out a well worn picture of a little boy, probably around two and a smiling woman.
Liz looked at the picture with Alex. "I bet that's Michael and his Mom," she said.
"He'll probably want this," Alex said, putting it in his pocket.
Alex and Liz walked up the stairs, both turning to get one last look at the basement, both imagining three small ghosts that still occupied the space.
"Well we found out what we needed to know," Alex said. He knew that now that they had their real last name they could find all the little details out.
"Yippee," Liz said sadly and closed the door to the basement, to the haunting memories.