Chapter 9: News of Jason

Rebecca

The most heartbreaking of news came out in late February when father's investigator reported that Jason had been working at a resort in Wyoming until the middle of January. Jason had finally purchased a replacement car, and the registration change had alerted the investigators to check in the area. Once they started, they discovered the resort and records showing he had started working there in July. Contact had been made with the owner of the resort, but at the time all we knew was that he had been running the resort restaurant. The surprise was when the investigator sent home an envelope filled with glowing reviews of the restaurant and its food. Jason's education in cooking consisted of whatever instruction he could coax out of the various nannies we had grown up with, and the experience of acting as a party caterer since my little slumber party almost three years ago. Here were professional food critics complimenting his food.

I must have burned father's ear off, begging him to take me to this resort so I could see where Jason had been. I am positive that he was against it, but the first weekend in March found him sitting next to Monique and me as we rode in an airplane headed to Salt Lake City.

To say that the resort was isolated was an understatement. Once we left the airport, father had to drive for nearly four hours to finally reach it. We did discover that this little town in the Rockies had some of the most spectacular views I had ever seen. Admittedly I grew up in Phoenix and have seen mostly desert in my life, but since that day something about snow covered mountains makes my heart soar.

Robert the owner was not very forthcoming. He appeared to be rather protective of Jason and refused to admit anything more about him. He admitted that Jason had been working there since June, but that was information we had received from the investigator. We were preparing to leave the resort and drive back to the town to stay, as there were no empty rooms at the resort when a striking lady wearing a name badge with Patricia on it stepped in front of my father. "You promise you won't hurt him," she said.

At my father's nod she pushed him through a staff door and then led him back to a room. "He stayed here. He did not leave much but you can look through what he left. I'm guessing you are his father; you look quite a bit like him. Robert wanted him to stay but after that trophy bunny drove him off, my brother has said little about Jason."

I wanted to say something, but it was Monique who managed to ask. "So he was all right?"

Patricia looked at both of us for a moment. There seemed to be no recognition of either of us. Her gaze seemed to pass back and forth before she spoke. "And I'm going to answer you because you are Jason's..."

Monique blushed for a moment and then whispered. "Fiancée. I was his fiancée until Rebecca and I ruined it."

I watched father's head whip around to stare at Monique, but my head slowly nodded to acknowledge the truth of Monique's statement. Father sank onto the bed in shock while Patricia looked straight into Monique's eyes.

There was a long moment of silence before Patricia sighed. "Well, at least that explains why Jason showed up here with a broken heart, although I'm not sure why it takes both of you girls to tell this tale. He never talked much about himself or his family, and Robert's few attempts usually resulted in a pained refusal to discuss it."

Monique and I looked at each other and I could see her heart sink as mine did. I was trying to think of what to say when father surprised both of us by muttering. "It wasn't his fault. He didn't know. He couldn't have known. They fooled everyone. Monique, Rebecca were victims too. Why can't we tell him that? See him?"

Father was sitting on the bed crying. Patricia was looking back and forth confused and then looked back and Monique and I who had started holding hands during father's speech. "Now I'm even more confused," Patricia said as she looked around the room. "You, Albert I know are Jason's father. He looks a lot like you. But Monique tells me she was Jason's fiancée and it seems like Rebecca played a role in breaking his heart as well."

Monique's hand tightened in mine, but I sighed and spoke. "I'm Jason's adopted sister. What happened is a couple moved in across the street and started hiring Monique or I to baby-sit, but..." I paused and had to lick my lips before I could continue. Father was shaking his head to stop, but I felt Patricia could help if she knew the truth. "It turned out that the couple worked to seduce and train young women before selling them as sex slaves outside the US. We aren't sure, but it seems that Jason overheard the couple in the process of conditioning me one night and left. He knew that Monique was baby-sitting for them as well and..." I found myself shrugging, but Patricia actually nodded.

"At least you escaped," she said. "And Jason is alive and doing well, although he needs love and forgiveness."

"Forgiveness?" Monique asked. "Why? He did nothing wrong, unless you count vanishing."

Patricia nodded and put a hand on my father's shoulders. "He never said, but I imagine he feels like he failed to protect you. He always watched out for others while he was here and to overhear what this couple was doing had to almost destroy him, especially since he could not stop or prevent it."

"But George didn't," I snapped. "The DA thinks that we had a higher value if we were virgin when sold, so it was mostly oral training with a lot of mental conditioning."

I clapped my hands over my mouth and started blushing furiously as Patricia giggled. "Well, don't tell me that. Tell that to Jason when you find him."

Monique perked up at that. "You expect him to return."

Patricia looked rather sad. "We aren't even sure why he left. Some trophy bunny showed up and appeared to recognize him. She gave him a lot of grief at dinner service one night and he left us sometime in the early morning the next day. He left a note, but only Robert has ever seen it, and he refuses to talk about it."

After this the talk truly turned to how Jason had adjusted to the resort and the dramatic improvements to the quality of the food while he was working. Patricia admitted that part of Robert's silence was a very real fear that the assistant chefs Jason had trained would prove unable to maintain the quality and the resort would slip back into obscurity. Patricia did find a few pictures of Jason to give to us. He rarely was smiling for the camera, and in the early ones there was a definite shadow in his heart, but the last few showed a young man who had hope that the world would be right someday.

The return trip to Phoenix was both somber and joyful. We had not found Jason, but the mystery around his disappearance had lessoned. Monique and I cried together on the airplane home when we thought father was sleeping. I think we both understood that it was our actions, which caused Jason to vanish, but to have a woman confirm that our carelessness had hurt the most important person in our lives was devastating once again.

Matters became no more cheerful once we arrived home. There was a letter waiting for me on the LeClercs' table. I did not recognize the elegant handwriting and opened it quickly, causing an enclosed picture to fall to the floor. Jacques happened to be standing by and picked it up, immediately saying. "Wow, that is some foxy older lady. Why is she sending you a picture though?"

I was now a bit confused and Monique snatched the photo from Jacques hands. She looked at for several moments before showing it to me, but neither of us recognized the blond woman in the formal gown and pearls. I finally pulled the enclosed letter out and began to read it aloud. "Dear daughter."

Monique gasped and I looked sharply at the picture. I could see Jacques comparing the picture to me, but not finding much in common. Monique seemed equally confused, so I continued reading. "It was quite a shock to run into your step-brother at some little ski resort. Of course Terrence and I only went because the food was supposed to be exotic and excellent, but the New York chefs do so much better."

I would have continued when Monique hissed. "The trophy bunny. Your own god-damned mother was the woman that accosted Jason the night before he vanished."

I stopped and looked at Monique. Somehow I knew she was right and continuing to read the letter seemed impossible. Finally I managed to look down again and scan the rest, but other than several paragraphs begging me to understand why she had vanished from my life eight years before without a word, and bragging about how Terrence kept her in diamonds and pearls, there was nothing of interest in the letter. Mother did ask that I write her back, but I dashed to the fireplace and threw the letter in, before setting it alight.