Chapter 11: Coming Closer to Jason

Rebecca

After I had received the letter from my mother, things seemed to quiet down for the next four months. The investigator now had a new vehicle to hunt for, but neither Robert nor Patricia remembered the license number, so the idea of a quick computer search was out. I did hear father suggest that they pay a bit more attention to the food industry as it looked like Jason's passion for cooking had remained and it was a possible way to track him.

We all wondered what might happen next, when by chance during a morning class break in late May I overheard one of the school secretaries say. "Why would anyone be trying to find out about a student who graduated nearly a year ago? And it was strange. It was like the investigator was almost randomly looking for young men of that name. I'm not even sure why he checked this school."

I was silent then, but when I mentioned it to Monique at lunch, she marched me to the office and demanded that I identify the speaker. I did and she hovered over the woman and demanded to know what student was being asked about. The poor woman seemed terrified and said. "It was Jase," before one of the other ladies told her to be quiet.

"That information is private, young lady," the office manager said. "You should respect the privacy of others."

"It was my brother the man was asking about, wasn't it," I suddenly blurted out. "Someone came asking for information on him, and I want to know why. I know my father provided his investigator with everything."

The office manager looked a bit confused. "What are you talking about, girl?"

Monique put a hand on my arm and then spoke. "Rebecca's brother disappeared almost a year ago. Her father has investigators looking for him. When we heard that some investigator came and asked about a student who graduated last year, we thought it might be him and wondered why someone was looking for him."

The same woman who earlier spoke looked defiantly at the manager and then spoke. "The investigator was from a law firm out of Louisiana. He said he was trying to find a Jason O'Neill in regards to an inheritance."

I wanted to cry, but Monique pulled me out of the office. It seemed like we only had part of the information. I was still sitting there crying when I noticed that Monique had her cell phone out. "Hello, Mom ... Yes, it's me ... look we just heard some funny news at school ... no, nothing bad, but there was an investigator asking about a Jason O'Neill earlier ... No, the one lady who said anything said that she heard it was about an inheritance ... We didn't hear exactly ... supposedly the investigator is working for a law firm out of Louisiana ... Look, I know it's sounds weird, but if this investigator thinks its our Jason, he might show up at his house ... can you watch and call me if anyone shows up? ... thanks."

Monique hung up and then looked at me with a smile. "If the investigator is looking for Jason, he'll turn up at the house soon. It's the next place to check."

"But why would he come here?" I asked.

Monique smiled. "Remember how last June, the school pushed for every senior to sign up for that classmates website. If the law firm tried an Internet search for Jason O'Neill that entry would have appeared in the results. Obviously, they believe the man they are looking for is that age, so they sent someone to find out more."

The thought that Jason might be found soon had both of us nearly walking on air for the rest of the day. I'm afraid that I mangled an answer in my English class because I was looking forward to the walk home and the hope that we might find this investigator there.

I was laying in the front room of the LeClerc's finishing off some math homework as Monique worked on her French Vocabulary. She had vowed never to visit France, but her father insisted that she study his native language. We were being quiet when I heard Jacque's voice shout out from the street. "You won't find no one home there."

I nearly jumped up, and strained to hear whom Jacques was talking to. Monique had closed her book to look at me when Jacques' loud voice called out again. "Trust me mister. No one is home. You just wasting your time."

I headed to the front door and opened it to see a man dressed in a suit standing in the driveway of my house. He looked over at Jacques and said. "Do you know the people who live here then?"

I wanted to respond, but Jacques gave a cheeky reply. 'Nah, the old man is never there, he travels a lot. As for the others, you should ask my sister. They had no one my age."

I sensed Monique walk up behind me and relaxed into her arms. "Don't worry, we know this news is good," she whispered as she gently pushed me out onto the porch.

The man seemed to notice the movement and looked at us briefly before asking Jacques. "Well, how would I get in touch with your sister. Shouting out in the middle of the street seems to be attracting too much attention."

Jacques snorted. "Nah, its just Monique and Rebecca, the doomful duo." He quipped.

The man seemed to sigh. "Well, where is your sister then? You said she knew the occupants of this house well."

I noticed an evil look in Jacques eyes. He shrugged and pointed right at me. "Ask Rebecca where my sister is. She's friends with her." With that Jacques raced off down the street, laughing.

The man turned back to Monique and I and looked at us for several moments. "I'm sorry to disturb you, but could you help me," he said to us.

"I guess the question is what kind of help you need," I replied carefully. "You seem awfully interested in the occupants of a house that has stood empty for almost a year."

The man looked back at me carefully. "So no one at all lives there now?"

Monique seemed to follow my lead. "Why should you care? What makes the people there important?"

I noticed the man pulling out a notebook and preparing to take notes. "I'm trying to locate a Jason O'Neill. I have reason to believe that he used to live here. I had hoped that I might find him or news of him here."

I snapped. "Jason hasn't been home since June."

The man looked right at me for a moment and then looked over his notes. He seemed puzzled. "You seem rather confident in that, Miss..."

"O'Neill," Monique replied. "Her name is Rebecca O'Neill and she's Jason's sister."

The man appeared totally shocked. "But you both just told me that no one lives in this house."

"Like anyone would let a sixteen year old girl live alone," Monique snorted. "Mom and dad have been Rebecca's guardians for years when Mr. O'Neill was on trips. After Jason vanished, Rebecca came to stay with us."

The investigator picked up his briefcase and walked around to the LeClerc's driveway. "I seem to be getting something, but not what I expected. I think I need to be sure I have the right person." He asked Monique to hold the briefcase and opened it to check over some papers. I saw him pull an envelope out before closing the briefcase and setting it back on the ground.

The man stared at us. "Very well, I'll guess I should introduce myself. My name is Chris Gatling, and I'm trying to find the whereabouts of Jason O'Neill. To be specific, I'm looking for this Jason O'Neill." He pulled a picture out of the envelope and showed it to us.

The picture had been taken in front a battered boat. But the center of the picture was a young man holding a young black woman. I did not recognize the woman at all, but Monique and I both gasped.

"It's Jason," Monique said.

The man looked at both of us. "Are you positive?" he asked.

Monique ran into the house, leaving me alone with the man as I looked closely at the picture. I could not be sure of when it was taken, but I did notice that the dark look, which had appeared in many of his pictures from the resort, seemed gone. The picture did upset me quite a bit though, as the woman with him was holding him tightly. I was going to ask more when Monique reappeared with a handful of photos.

"I think looking at these will convince you," she said as she fanned them out revealing that they were from Jason's senior year. She had even included a couple we had been given by Patricia.

Chris took barely a moment too look at them before nodding. "Yes, seeing these I am now sure I have found the right Jason O'Neill. Now the question is where he is now. He received part of the estate of Nathan Daniels when he passed on, and the law firm needs to have him sign paperwork and take custody of this inheritance."

"He did what?" I cried. "Who is Nathan Daniels? And how could my brother inherit anything? What did he do? Where is he?"

I was nearly sobbing again and Monique took me into her arms, as Chris looked on confused. "What's wrong?" He asked.

Monique tried to calm me by running fingers through my hair and looked at Chris. "Jason left after he thought he'd failed to prevent Rebecca from being raped. We have investigators looking, but it seems we keep finding him after he has moved on."

I could not see Chris as my face was held tightly to Monique's chest, but I could hear his response. "Damn. So right now we have no leads."

"What about his friend from the picture?" Monique asked. "Perhaps she can help you."

Chris sighed. "Miss Tameka Parrish? No, all she can tell us is that he found some resort on the east coast to work at. Tameka's mother showed up shortly before Nathan Daniels passed away and drove Jason away. When the will was read, Miss Mary Daniels, the deceased's daughter discovered that Nathan Daniels had disowned her years ago. She nearly went berserk in the law office when that came out during the reading. Miss Tameka Parrish is being watched by her mother's friends, so having her ask isn't possible."

I perked up at that. "So Tameka has talked to my brother? She might help us?"

Chris looked at us. "Miss Mary Daniels wants Jason dead, so I don't know. If Jason is declared dead before he signs the paperwork to claim the inheritance, she can challenge the disbursement of that part of the estate. Miss Parrish knows that and is being very careful. She has no information on where Jason is, and he calls her rarely."

I pushed away from Monique and started searching around for my cell phone. I had just found it when Monique spoke up. "Chris, I know I'm going to ask a lot, but is there any way you can put us in touch with Tameka? Finding Jason is important to us."

Chris was still formulating a reply as I dialed father. He had promised to always take my calls as long as I called rarely, so I quickly got through. "Daddy!" I cried. "We have news about Jason."

I could hear the surprised. "Has he been found? It sounds like good news."

"No, we haven't found him, but I think we are closer," I gushed. "There is an investigator here from a law firm. I guess brother inherited some money. But he said that Jason is working at a resort on the east coast at last report. Can we tell the investigators to concentrate there?"

Father seemed to be confused. "Slow down there Rebecca. All I understood was that some investigator came by looking for Jason. What was the rest?"

I tried to slow down. "It's kind of confusing to me too. The investigator, Chris said that brother is named in the will of some guy named Nathan Daniels, but that the man's daughter is not happy about this. The only status on Jason we have for sure is a picture and the fact that someone told Chris that Jason was working at a resort on the east coast."

Father seemed to sigh. "The east coast is a big area. I can tell the investigators to look, but it might take a while."

I smiled and could feel Monique give me a hug. "That's ok dad. At least we know he is ok."

"Fine then," father said. "Now I do have to get back to work."

"One more thing dad. Think you can fly out tomorrow to meet with Monique and I?" I said.

"Yes? Why?" father said.

"Because, we need to take a trip," I replied. "You'll take Monique and I to" I looked over at Chris. "Where can we find Tameka?"

Chris looked confused and replied. "Biloxi."

"That's it. You'll take Monique and I to Biloxi, Mississippi," I said.

I snapped my phone off and looked over at Chris. He seemed a bit stunned by the turn of events and did not move as I snatched the picture of Tameka and Jason out of his hands.

Monique laughed at this. "Sorry about that. Rebecca really wants her brother back," she said to Chris."

Chris just smiled and pulled a couple of business cards from a pocket. "I just hope we find him before one of Mary's less than respectable friends does. Jason got lucky that she drove him away before the reading of the will and the realization that she was inheriting nothing."

Chris walked away as Monique and I hugged each other. After he got in a sedan and drove away we went back inside.

"We are closer," I enthused.

I noticed that Monique was looking over my shoulder at the picture of Tameka and Jason. "What about her?" she asked.

I looked at the picture again and the feeling that she was more than just a friend to Jason swept through me. "You think that she and Jason..."

"Are lovers," Monique finished for me. "Or at least there were at the time this picture was taken. So we have to ask, what about her?"

I considered what the picture meant and suddenly whispered. 'I'll share."

I could hear Monique gasp. "What do you mean?" she responded.

I pulled the picture to my breasts and felt tears appear in my eyes. "The only man I'll take my panties off for is Jason. Ever. If Jason and Tameka are lovers, I'll crawl to them naked and beg for them to make me their toy, if it takes that."

Monique whirled me around to look me in the eyes. 'Rebecca, think of what you are saying. This is your future happiness. Can you really be happy if you give so much up?"

I laughed and gave her a hug. "I hid one thing from you. Remember how I said the conditioning didn't take? Well, the therapist couldn't understand why because all the evidence suggested that George was a master at it. He kept digging and digging and eventually figured out why. George had us repeating that we loved and would obey our master. I'm sure he figured that we would picture him as the master, but for me master was always Jason. The conditioning did take, just towards Jason. My love for Jason protected me from the conditioning. And now even after all that's happened, I still love Jason and want to be his."

Monique gasped. "You mean."

I just nodded. I was prepared for Monique to thrust me away when she suddenly wrapped her arms around me and kissed me. "Then I guess we offer Jason and Tameka two virgin girls who wish to be their lovers."

I started and then broke the kiss. "Monique, why?" I asked.

She leaned down to kiss me again. "Because, that's what my therapist told me too."

I'm sure some people would expect that after such a revelation we both fell into bed and fucked each other silly, but in truth after one more long hug, we returned to our studies. The night was hard on both of us, as the fear of being rejected finally surfaced.