Chapter 26

The trip north continued at a faster pace after Abigail, and I soon found myself in a tranquil cove answering a call from The Judge. He spoke quickly and directly. "We looked hard at Musawri and found far more than you suspected, Noah. He hasn't been a good boy, and dying was too good for him. His associates are just as bad, and we've begun to roll them up.

"It is likely we will net out a lot of arrests, many more detainments under the declaration of war, and the real exciting news is how much money we've intercepted that would have gone to terror groups." The Judge was rather happy, ebullient really, and I couldn't quite grasp why he was sharing it all with me.

"It turns out that a significant push back is coming from what we've often referred to as moderate Muslims in America. Now that we have shown that we have a backbone, moderates are coming to us and sharing important intelligence.

"We are being incredibly careful to keep everything a secret, even to the point of building straw men cases, just to cover up where our information came from. Our sources are far more informed that we imagined, and because you got us started on this particular group of people, we thought it was important to keep you in the loop.

"We understand that the young woman who was married to Musawri is back home and dealing with her late husband's estate. Just as you asked, we are leaving his accounts alone, that is the least we can do, especially since she is so obviously not one of his ilk.

"We'd like to include you in some of our investigations, because you have been so important to us, but I have to admit I don't really know how we want to include you, yet. So don't lose faith in me, just know we'll figure it out and contact you then."

He was gone so fast, I never actually spoke.

That evening Abigail called.

"Hello?" She asked very softly.

"Hi," I answered, happy to hear her voice. "How are you, Abigail?"

"I'm better now that I can hear your voice, Noah. It's been very hard to ... well ... do much of anything. I missed you so much that I just had to call. After you hired the taxi to take me to the airport, I got so scared without you nearby, that I almost fainted from a panic attack. My mother was waiting at the airport, and when she took me to the Medical Examiner to claim Musawri's body, I almost couldn't bring myself to go into the room where they had him.

"They had him under a sheet, and all I could see was his face, but he looked so awful! He was bruised everywhere, and his eyes were open ... It was terrible. I didn't sleep a wink last night. Mother finally made me a gin and tonic, and it relaxed me enough that I fell asleep very late and slept all the way through lunch. You said that I needed rest and that rest was a weapon. It's true, Noah. I did need rest, and once I got it, things weren't as bad, but I'm not sure I can do what I have to do by myself..."

She drifted to a stop, just short of asking for help.

There was a pause in the conversation, and then Abigail said, "I know I was a terrible burden on you. First you saved me, then you took care of me, fed me, bought me clothes, and kept me safe. It's like I can't think without you to help right now ... Does any of this make any sense?"

I could hear a shrill tone coming into her voice. Abigail was about to have a melt-down. "Ok. Let's talk ... Tell me about your flight home."

Abigail took a big breath and started to talk. "The flight was on time, and my seat was just inside the front door by the cockpit. When we were up in the air the pilot turned around and spoke to me for few minutes. I couldn't understand why he was interested until I realized I must have looked terrified. SO I forced myself to at least look relaxed, and before long we were home.

"My mother took me right to the ... to see Musawri's body and arrange for the funeral home to pick him up. They were very kind to us, which helped.

"There were some federal investigators waiting when we came out of the room, and they wanted to know everything about Musawri. They asked about his friends, his job, his family, his enemies, and his 'other' lovers, which shocked me. Noah, it turns out that Musawri liked to run around with bad boys. His "friends" were a lot like the freaks that he sold me to, and they were in some kind of trouble with the government.

"It turns out that Musawri's friends had hurt other women, and they wound up dead, which is why they were so interested in talking to me, since I could identify most of them. The ones they showed me had all been to our house at one time or another. Musawri hung around with crazy people, Noah!"

She was getting shrill again, so I interrupted. "Did you get his funeral arrangements all done?"

That slowed her down, and she said, "Musawri's parents asked permission to take his body back to Iran and bury him there. I was happy to let them have him. Does that make me a bad person?"

I laughed at that one. "Abigail, Musawri tried to have you killed. If you decided to let the wild pigs eat him in the woods, it would have been completely understandable. He was as responsible as the two freaks for what happened to you. It's time you understand what he was, and let it go..."

She went silent for a long time, and then threw me a curve. "Since there's no funeral, can I come back, Noah? Can I go on your boat tide with you? At least for a while? Please?"

Hmmmm ... What to do ... What to do...

It wasn't in my personality to abandon anyone in need, so I said, "Can you get a plane to Virginia Beach and meet me there?"

I could hear her sigh. She must have been holding her breath and let it out when I agreed. "Oh, thank you. I need your calmness, Noah, not to mention your closeness."

Mr. Johnson would be happy, even if I regretted giving in.

It took two days for Abigail to make the arrangements to meet me, and then she had to call and ask if she could bring her mother for a few days. "Remember I told you about the government investigators asking about Musawri, Noah? Well they are now asking mother about Daddy's death, as if there was some kind of connection between what Musawri did and Daddy dying.

"It's scary for us both, and I promise that Mother won't be any trouble. She's a good sport and likes adventure, so if you don't really hate me for asking, please let me bring her."

What would you do? The same thing I did, I suspect. Hopefully she wasn't expecting to chaperone us.