Me Without You (29 page)

When Hugh and Damian arrived, the place
looked astir with the lights still on. It did not even take a
couple of minutes before Jervais opened the door with amazement
seeing Hugh back with a disheveled Damian in front of
him.

"What's going on?" Jervais asked. She
opened the door wider and both men entered the house.

"Your driver may be able to help you
find Jenssen," Hugh replied. He noticed that the foyer still
remained untouched with all the papers and Jenssen's other
belongings still on the floor. Careful not to disturb the scene,
Hugh tiptoed his way towards the living room.

There were three other women gathered
in the living room. These included Jane, Jonah and another sister
whom Hugh had not met before.

Hugh saw Jonah arching a brow at him
but she did not say anything. She was also quick to avert his eyes
and looked at Damian.

"What is this?" It was Jane who
immediately demanded an explanation. She stood up from her chair
and went to meet Damian halfway but paused. She straightened to her
full height, with her chin up, she addressed the driver, "Damian,
explain yourself."

Damian plunged on and told his story.
It was the same information he told Hugh back in the woods. Damian
cast Jane a brief and skeptical look. But just as he promised Hugh,
he told them what he overheard the men were saying, "I did overhear
one of them saying where to bring Ma'am Jenssen."

"Call the police!" It was Jerone who
spoke. "Pray, we're not too late and find Jenssen
alive!"

Guilty!

Guilt was the word of the day. Jonah
mused as she rolled over on Jane's bed, pulling with her the thick
comforter until it coiled around her body locking her in. She
rolled back to her original position, unfastening the comforter.
But she remained buried underneath the covering. She did not want
to get up. After last night's adventure, she wanted to stay asleep
but her body was already protesting. It was probably oversleeping
that she was already having a mild headache.

Jane had gone back to the hospital
right after they informed the police what Damian had overheard the
man saying. Damian told the police Jenssen will be brought to an
abandoned warehouse which was only within the
neighborhood.

Jervais and Jerone stayed awake half of
the night awaiting for any information about Jenssen from the
police. Jonah was the first one to go to bed last night and almost
instantly, her mind had shut everything off the moment she shut her
eyes and lay down on bed.

But come morning and everything came
rushing forth— Jenssen's disappearance…Hugh's kiss… and the
guilt.

Jonah had a bucketful of guilt she was
trying to get rid out of her system. There was the guilt of being
more preoccupied with Hugh's kiss and what it meant rather than
Jenssen's predicament. There was also the guilt of kissing Hugh and
enjoying it rather than pining for Xavier and his kisses. And there
was just plain and simple guilt for being guilty.

It was not as if Jonah was not totally
worried about Jenssen because she was. But she was just keeping her
emotions at bay. It was just too soon to mourn for another loss in
the family when it had not even been a week after Brice's death.
Although, a great fear was present for the imminent danger
surrounding the whole family and the quest for the new
healer.

And Hugh… Oh, God! Why did I
have to kiss him back?
Jonah contemplated.
She knew where her loyalty was but she was betraying her own self.
It was not as if she and Xavier had settled things about their
relationship. But neither did Hugh.

"I am young and I should be seeing and
getting to know more people! It's not as if X and I are married or
anything!" Jonah blurted out loud. "I mean for goodness sake,
people my age are out there having fun and I am miserable because
of just two yummy boys!"

After reasoning with herself and still
feeling guilty, Jonah buried herself deep inside the covers and
groaned out loud. She wished she had a day of reprieve from
everything else.

Just a day… I don't need
forever for this.
Jonah whispered to
herself.

It was how Jervais found Jonah. Jervais
entered the room and almost thought Jonah had gone down with the
bulk of the linen hiding her. However, the loud groaning was
impossible to miss.

"Jonah," Jervais muttered. "Get
up!"

Without lowering the sheet, Jonah
replied, "Jervais, shouldn't you be sleeping yet? I knew you barely
had a wink last night. Go back to bed!"

Jervais sat on the bed, flipped the
sheet away and revealed Jonah's face. "I got so much on my mind, I
couldn't sleep!"

"I got so much on my mind and I want to
sleep!" Jonah retorted. "Forever!"

"Huh! See what I told you," Jervais
said triumphantly, "This so-called immortality that Aunt Judith was
boasting about is nothing to crave for."

"It's not that I want to die now,
Jervais—" Jonah said.

"Yeah, I know," Jervais answered. "It's
just that one can have enough of something! Even life. And yes,
I've had enough of this healer thing, so give me the belly
chain!"

"What will you do with
the
habak
?" Jonah
demanded. She sat upright and stared long and hard at
Jervais.

"I am going to wear it for
the whole world to see," Jervais said. "Especially Aunt Judith! I
figured the woman had spread out the rumor about us not to keep
those who are interested with the healer's blood at bay. But it was
for our own benefit. She probably wanted to draw one of us into
admitting and sacrificing for the rest of us. And she's going to
get it now. I'd be flashing it right under her nose that I am the
new one just as I did with the white lady back at the Lively
mansion. And I need the
habak
as a prop."

"Then, what?" Jonah said. "You will be
putting yourself as a bait."

"I think I already am!" Jervais
answered. "Come to think of it, it should have been me out there
instead of Jenssen. I was supposed to come here and prepare Jane's
things before Damian picked them up."

"No, Jervais!" Jonah insisted. "It
could be anyone of us! It just so happened Jenssen was here and
they got her!"

"Then enough is enough," Jervais
shouted. She was already getting agitated by the minute. "They are
not going to get any more of us! We'll draw them to us. They will
have to reveal themselves to us. Or at least there has to be a face
for our enemies. I do believe we know someone who's working with
them. And I am going to bet it's either Aunt Judith or the white
lady."

"Lower your voice, Jervais!" Jonah
warned. "Aunt Judith may hear you!"

Jervais got the remote control which
was on top of the bedside table and turned the television on. She
increased the volume a notch higher drowning their
conversation.

"We can't continue being scared of
these people, Jonah," Jervais resumed her tirade. "And there's no
way we can go into hiding. Think of Jerone's family. Think of X.
Think of the things that we will be leaving behind because we
became too chicken to stand up against them."

Think of
Hugh
… Jonah silently added to
herself.

"Your mother was never afraid of these
people. So why should we? If one of us is the new one, then we are
more powerful than them," Jervais said. "All we need to do is to
find the right person we can trust to teach us how your mother did
it."

"Before the other party kills us,"
Jonah said matter-of-factly.

Just then, the program on television
was interrupted by a live report which drew Jervais and Jonah's
attention.

A reporter was saying, "What
are hyenas doing in Roaring Brook Township? Authorities are puzzled
as they found an empty warehouse housing a dozen of wild hyenas
suspected of being smuggled from Africa. For the moment, the wild
predators are being turned over to the
Predators Conservation Foundation
organized by Fr. Ulysses—"

Jervais muted the set and looked at
Jonah. Both of them had the same idea going on in their minds. But
it was so appalling to even voice out their assumptions.

"Could it be the same warehouse?"
Jervais was saying. She stood up and moved towards the door but
stopped. "Hand me the belly chain," she added.

Jonah opened Jane's bedside table and
got the belly chain. She tossed it towards Jervais and said, "I'll
just take a shower and be down in a few minutes. Don't do anything
drastic without me, Jervais!"

Jonah had a quick shower, got dressed
and went down in a record-breaking time. When she was able to join
Jervais and her other siblings in the living room, two police
officers were already there. Aunt Judith was also there.

From the looks of it, Jane and Jerone
had already been crying with their red and puffed up eyes. Jerone
was constantly dabbing just beneath the corner of her eyes to
prevent her tears from smearing her make-up. But Jane had totally
buried her face in her hands.

There were a few plastic evidence bags
on top of the coffee table with Jenssen's belongings including a
pair of red ballet flats, phone and bag. However, what caught
Jonah's eyes was the other pair of red ballet flat which appeared
to have blood on it. There was also a piece of clothing with dried
blood stains on them. Apparently, these were the ones discovered in
the warehouse.

"So are you saying you don't have any
idea who's capable of doing this?" One of the officers asked. "I
mean does your family have known enemies?"

"The Blood family is known for its
generosity among other things. There may be some people who did not
approve of our dear Rebecca but we cannot think of anybody in
particular who could resort to such a heinous thing." It was Aunt
Judith who answered the police.

Jonah went to sit next to Jervais. She
whispered in Jervais' ear, "What is going on?"

"They found a few of Jenssen's
belongings in the warehouse," Jervais whispered back. "Her shoe and
a sweater."

Jonah gasped noisily drawing the police
officers' attention towards her. But she did not mind them as she
continued, "And Jenssen?"

"They couldn't find her," Jervais said.
"Her body!"

"Is she dead?" Jonah asked.

Aunt Judith threw both of them a
warning look before she faced the officers and said, "Our family
would like some privacy now. We have just been through the death of
two of our members and the other one is in the hospital. If there's
nothing else needed from us, we would like to have the time to
collect ourselves."

"Of course, we understand!" One of the
officers answered and stood up. The other one also stood up and
carefully gathered the plastic bags together. "We will be in touch
for some developments. We may be inviting your driver—"

"Damian has been relieved from his
post. We are no longer responsible and accountable for his
actions," Jane interrupted.

"Of course!" The officer said. "Well,
if there's anything that comes up, don't hesitate to call my
office." He took out a business card and handed it to Aunt Judith.
But Jerone who was sitting nearer the man, snatched it
up.

Jervais volunteered to walk the two
officers to the door. Walking right in front of the three women,
Jervais sported out the belly chain hanging loosely around her
waist. She had connected half of the chain to a black thin cord.
However, it was only Jonah who seemed to notice.

Aunt Judith was already on her feet
ready to leave the room. Then, she said, "Jenssen is gone. There's
nothing else we can do about it. Since you are planning to do a
final ceremony before Brice's ashes joins your father, you might as
well include Jenssen."

"My gosh, Aunt Judith—" Jane protested.
"They haven't found a body yet!"

"We don't need to. Let us put our
concentration on the new one and finding out who she is rather than
search for those that have gone ahead of us. And it will do us a
lot of good if we keep quiet about this and solve it within
ourselves. We still—" Aunt Judith then noticed Jervais who came in
with Hugh and did not continue speaking. She frowned at him and
turned to leave. As she passed by Jervais, she looked at her waist
and saw the dangling belly chain on her. Her eyes grew large with
shock and searched Jervais' face.

Jane was looking at Aunt
Judith and followed the direction her eyes had taken and saw
the
habak
on
Jervais' waist. Her mouth began to open. Then, it closed
again.

Aunt Judith's eyes roamed
from Hugh to Jervais to the
habak,
but she did not say anything. After a while, she
proceeded towards the basement in a huff.

Jervais sat beside Jonah pretending not
to notice her Aunt Judith's reaction upon seeing the belly chain on
her. However, she quickly exchanged a knowing look with
Jonah.

Hugh sat down and occupied the vacant
seat the two officers just vacated. He gave Jonah a small nod, who
returned it rather shyly.