***Sorry it's taken so long to get this up. It snowed a lot today, so I've been outside off and on playing in it with my doggies.
Plus, had company too. Anyway, here's chapter 19. Just to warn you, there's a cliffhanger at the end.
There will be a short epilogue after this, but I'll probably not post it tonight. Please excuse any typos. My left pinky is still feeling like it's asleep (has for days) and that makes it harder to type sometimes.***
Chapter Nineteen
Natalia and Eric were processing Tina's luggage.
"I found a notebook," Natalia announced, pulling it out with gloved hands.
"maybe it'll hold a clue to her killer's identity," She added as she started to read it. "It's here journal."
"Good, that may be what we need," Eric said.
"Oh My God!"
"What is it?"
"I have to call Ryan." She pulled out her phone. "Ryan, are you in the building? Okay, well there's something that you need to see. Okay, see you in a few." She hung up the phone.
A few minutes later, Ryan arrived. "What is it, Natalia?"
"This was in Tina's luggage. It's a journal."
Ryan put gloves on before taking the notebook from Natalia. The journal had said that Tina had tricked her husband into going on the trip in order to protect Lia.
I couldn't let him hurt my little girl any longer. Lia, I hope you can forgive me for letting this happen to you. I should have called Ryan the minute I discovered the secrets your diary held. I'm sorry for reading it, but I'm really glad that I did now. I thought you'd be safter if I got Karl out of the country, far away from you. Please forgive me, honey and try to understand. I did what I thought was best for you.
"He hurt Lia? How? She never mentioned anything to me," Ryan said.
"You need to talk to her, Ryan."
"Yeah, I'm going to go do that now." He walked out of the room.
~ ~ ~
When Ryan got home, Lia was asleep. She'd had the day off school.
"Hi, honey. the kids are all asleep. Lia didn't feel well so she decided to take a nap too." Max took one look at her husband and knew something was very wrong. "Ryan, what's happened?"
"He hurt her, Max. That bastard!"
"Who?"
"Karl, Tina's husband."
"He hurt Tina?"
"No, Lia."
"What?"
"We found Tina's journal. In it she said she tricked him into leaving to get him away from Lia. She was afraid if she turne dhim in that the'd get off the charages and Lia would be in even more danger. But, Lia never said anything. Why wouldn't she tell us, Max?"
"Maybe she didn't want to relive it, Ryan."
Just then, a scream erupted from Lia's room. Ryan rushed into the room and over to Lia's side. "Lia!"
"Uncle Ryan!" She was still trapped in her nightmare. "He's gonna come after me."
"What are you talking about, honey? No one is coming after you."
"He's coming; he's coming!" She shook with fear.
"Lia!" He shook her gently.
"Uncle Ryan, please help me!"
"Lia, sweetheart, I'm here. Come on, open your eyes." He tried desperately to wake her from her nightmare. "Lia, wake up!"
her eyes snapped open and she looked at him. "Uncle Ryan!" She sat up. "He was coming after me."
Ryan hugged her. "It's okay, sweetheart. No one is coming after you. It was just a nightmare. Shh, calm down, honey." He smoothed her hair with his hand as he held her.
"Uncle Ryan?"
"What is it, honey?"
"There's sometihng that I need to tell you."
"Okay."
"Remember at the hosptial when I told you that I was..."
"Yeah."
"Well, it's true in some ways, but not in others."
"What do you mean?"
"I can't hold this secret inside me any longer. It's eating away at me."
"What is it?"
"That wasn't the first time something like that happened to me... though the other times, it wasn't exactly a stranger."
"What?" There were tears falling freely from the teen's eyes and Ryan felt his heart breaking all over again.
When it dawned on him, he became angry. "That son of a bitch!" Seconds later, he looked at the frightened face of his young niece and instantly calmed down. "Lia, I..."
"I'm sorry that I didn't tell you before. Please don't hate me." More tears fell from her eyes.
"Never, angel." He spoke softly, pulling her back into his arms. "I could never, ever hate you, Lia. I'm just so sorry that this happened to you." They were both crying softly as they hugged.
"It started a year after they got married. He'd come into my room while I was sleeping. The night of the break in, when that guy came into my room and put his hand over my mouth, I thoht Karl had come back." Tears spilled down her face and onto Ryan's shoulder.
Maxine stood just inside the door, tears falling from her eyes.
"I'm sorry that I kept this from you, Uncle Ryan. I just..."
"It's okay, baby." He kissed her crown. "There's something that I need to tell you. Eric and Natalia found your mom's journal. In it she wrote that she tricked Karl into leaving the country in order to keep him from hurting you again. She was afraid of going to the cops because she was afraid he'd get off the charges. She just wanted to protect you the best way she knew how."
"So, she didn't heartlessly abandon me?"
"No, honey; she didn't."
The floodgates opened up wide and the tears came fast and furious. "Oh, God! All this time I never knew. All this time I've been hating her when all along she was only trying to protect me." Ryan held her as she cried. "Uncle Ryan?"
"Hmm?"
"Do you think he found out that she tricked him and that he killed her?"
"I don't know, but he's our best suspect at this point."
"He's gonna come after me."
"No, baby. It'll be okay." He kissed her forehead. "I promise I'll do everything I can to make sure he never hurts you again."
~ ~ ~
A short time passed and Julia's and Tina's murders were still unsolved.
Horatio's phone rang. "Hello? Slow down, son. I can't understand you. Okay, we'll be right there." Horatio hung up his phone and looked at Ryan. "That was Kyle. he said that one of Lia's friends told him they saw someone grab her and put her in a vehicle and drive off."
"What!" Ryan was terrified. "It's Karl, he's got her! He's got my little girl!" Tears threatened to fall from his eyes.
~ ~ ~
"I failed her again, Max."
"What?"
"I promised her that I'd make sure he never hurt her again. What if he's hurting her right now?" He cried as she hugged him.
"Ryan, this is not your fault."
The phone rang and he grabbed it. "Lia?"
"No, Ryan; it's Jake. We got a lead on Karl. I figured you'd want to tag along even though you're not supposed to, but... if it were my daughter..."
"Thanks, Jake. I'll be there."
~ ~ ~
"Where is she, Karl?"
"Who?"
"My niece, Lia."
"How the hell should I know?"
"You breeze back into Miami and a short time later she's abducted. I don't believe in coincidences, Karl," Jake said.
"We know what you did to her. We found her mother's journal. It told us everything that we need to know about you," Calleigh told him.
"You don't scare me," he sneered.
Ryan grabbed karl by the collar and slammed him against a wall. "What about me? Do I scare you?"
"Hey, that's police brutality!"
"I didn't see anything. Did you see anything, Jake?"
"No, didn't see a thing, Calleigh. Not a damn thing."
"No witnesses, Karl. Who is going to believe a low life who molests little girls over three cops?" Cal was standing at the side of him, Ryan still had him by the collar.
"Where is she, Karl? Tell me now," Ryan demanded.
"I don't know, okay! I didn't take her!"
"Don't lie to me!"
"Karl, what's going on out there?" A woman came into view from inside the hotel room.
"Hello, ma'am," Jake said, "I'm Detective Berkeley. This is CSI Wolfe and CSI Berkeley. How long has Karl been here with you?"
"Since noon, why?"
"Thank you." Jake put cuffs on Karl. "You're under arrest."
"I told you that I didn't take her!"
"Maybe not, but you're under arrest for what you did do to her." Calleigh said.
~~~
Karl had confessed to killing Tin, but still claimed to know nothing about Lia's disappearance.
"If Karl didn't take Lia, then who did?" Eric inquired.
"I think I have that answer."
"What is it, H?"
"Just come with me."
~ ~ ~
"Caine, you made it in record time." Ron Saris had a knife at Lia's neck and a gun pointed at Horatio.
"Let the girl go, Ron. This is between you and I. It's got nothing to do with her."
"You're not calling the shots, Horatio. I couldn't get to Kyle, but I knew that she was close to him, so she had to be the next best thing. Plas, she's easier to control."
Ryan was watching from the sidelines. Horatio told him he was too emotionally involved so he had to stay back. Natalia stood beside him. Everything happened so fast. Lia had managed to get loose and knock the gun out of Ron's hand and away from him. He had cursed at her. The next thing Ryan saw was Lia fall down to the ground, injured. How badly, he didn't know, but she was definitely injured. Horatio shot Ron Saris, killing him instantly.
"Frank, call for an ambulance. She's bleeding badly," Horatio told Tripp.
"Noooooo!" Ryan screamed as he and Nat ran toward the fallen teen. "Lia!" he dropped to his knees beside her. He realized that she was bleeding from her neck. Natalia immediately pulled off her white cotton jacket and applied it to Lia's wound in an attempt to control the bleeding. "Lia, stay with me. Just hold on, baby girl. Please just hold on."
~ ~ ~
Ryan and Max sat side by side outside as they listened to the minister speak. When he finished, the casket was lowered into the ground. Ryan and Max and several others threw flowers on top of the casket.
(end of chapter)
