Goldilocks Forever

Chapter 39

Santa Monica, California

May 2006

 Three days left. 

George sent Anna with Elliott to collect reports from the downtown territory while he went to a meeting at Garrison's. When she returned that afternoon, he was still gone. She went to the security center and found Toby and Peter there alone. As she logged herself in, Toby rolled back in his chair and gestured for her to join him.

The lack of his usual "Hey, Sunshine" greeting and his unsmiling face added to the sense of foreboding growing in her as her deadline neared. She sat next to him in front of the row of monitors. "What's wrong?"

He frowned and his brows pinched together on his forehead. His voice was low and conspiratorial. "There's something you need to see." He craned his neck to peer over the tops of the monitors. Peter sat at his station wearing his headphones as he monitored the feed from one of the clubs. "Just promise me when you see this that you won't make too much of a scene."

"What?" Anna's heart beat faster.

His eyes widened and he leaned closer as he whispered, "I'm not supposed to show you this, so you can't let on that you know."

"Know what?" Despite his admonitions, she could already feel her blood rushing through her. She sat at the edge of her seat.

"Promise me?"

"Tell me what's going on."

He sighed. "I hope I don't regret this." He leaned back in his chair, the same casual slouch he always made. Anna perched at the edge of the chair, leaning toward the monitors as Toby moved the mouse and clicked to enlarge a window.

Anna's heart raced. She immediately recognized the scene. Her mouth fell open as she watched the surveillance footage of her father's faded blue recliner in the same spot in front of the bookshelves in the living room. Books and newspapers piled high on the coffeetable and the afghan made by her grandmother still draped over the couch.

"What...what?" She looked at Toby.

He frowned and stared at the screen. "You know what this is."

"This is my house. My home. My—" Her voice rose with the blood coursing through her.

Toby sat up and leaned in. He put his hand on her arm. "Shhhh."

She whispered. "Why are you watching this?" She thought of her father and the violation of his privacy. "What the hell is going on?"

Toby whispered back. "I found this feed by accident. I had no idea what it was until I saw this." He clicked through a few buttons on the screen and fast forwarded the video. A new scene enfolded on the screen. The hallway leading from the front door. The stairs were visible, covered by the same worn carpet her and Casey's feet had tread upon since they were children. The camera also took in the wall opposite the stairs. Toby zoomed in on it.

Anna saw herself, a younger version of herself, recognizable, but somehow foreign to her. The photograph had been taken three Thanksgivings ago. She and her father stood next to each other, both of them wearing different shades of green sweaters. They had their arms around each other and smiled into the camera that Uncle Frank always had ready during any family gatherings. Casey had been absent from that one. The family, Anna recalled, was even then accustomed to her absence.

"I recognized you."

Tears welled in Anna's eyes. "That's my dad."

Toby nodded. "I thought so." He clicked to move the image to the left to reveal more photos on the wall. "These were more pixilated, harder to make out, but this one also caught my eye." He froze on a hazy image of two little girls standing side by side in identical dresses.