SOS: Ship of Secrets✔️

21- Lilly & Malcolm & Rocco & Jennifer

Lilly

I was walking to my room when I heard noise coming from the media room.

I stepped inside to see videos playing of several empty houses. I recognized one of them to be Josie and Malcolm's house.

I hurriedly walked down the hall and knocked frantically on everyone's doors.

"Lilly, what is it?", Neal asked.

"Come to the-"

I paused once I noticed Neal and Jesse were shirtless with towels around their waists. Rocco was also shirtless standing behind Josie who was in a robe and I could tell she wasn't wearing a bra.

"Um, do you people want to get dressed first?"

Josie and Rocco blushed. Jennifer, Nina, and Joey laughed while Malcolm glared at Josie.

"Give us five.", Neal said.

They went back inside their rooms and came back out fully dressed a few minutes later.

"Better. Come to the media room."

They followed me to the media room and saw all the videos playing.

"Josie, that's our house.", Malcolm said.

"Neal, that's our apartment.", Jesse said as he pointed at the video in the lower right portion of the screen.

"This is live. How did he install cameras in our homes?"

"We have a security system protecting our home. How could he get in to spy on us?", Malcolm said.

A man wearing a mask appeared on the screen walking through one of the homes.

"He's in your house, Joey.", Nina said.

The man grabbed a step ladder out the hallway closet and placed it right below the view of the camera.

His face was close to the camera. He slowly pulled off his mask.

The sight of him made my skin crawl. He had burn splotches all over the left side of his face. He creepily smiled at the camera.

"Oh my god. I remember him.", Jennifer and Josie said in unison.

Jennifer raised her eyebrow at Josie.

"Wait, where do you remember him from?"

"We were in the same foster home once. He was older than me. His name is Ernie, but the kids called him Bernie, because of the burns on his face. He.."

Josie's eyes widen and she covered her mouth with her hand.

"What is it?", Rocco asked.

"After I was adopted, I remember he showed up at the house. I was home alone. He said Jennifer hired him to be the maintenance man. He changed the air filters and he was messing with the smoke detectors. I didn't think anything else about it."

"I never hired maintenance. He must've been planting cameras. That's how he has pictures of us in that house.", Jennifer said.

"Where do you remember him, mom?"

"I don't think you remember him. You only met once. Before we got Josie, I was looking to foster troubled kids and give them good homes. I would visit him at his orphanage. I was starting the process to officially foster him and I was told that he was sent back to the orphanage for repetitive outbursts and threatening his caseworker with a knife. I couldn't bring that around my son."

We all heard a chuckle coming from the screen. We looked and saw him pick up a picture of Jennifer off the wall.

"Hey, mama."