A Safe Haven

Four

Ace could hear the brat yelling from down the hall and Mark was busy with him so he took the opportunity to slip into a room that looked like Marks den or office. Who was Mark Wilds, he wondered looking at a couple of pictures on the wall? One was of a boy around Spencers age and the other one was of a girl around his age and she looked pregnant which didn't detract from her beauty and exotic looks. She must be Latino and other races combined, he guessed. There was another picture of Mark as a teen standing with the girl in front of a trailer. They looked really poor and he could see bruises although it looked like they tried to cover them with make up.

He sat down at the computer seeing a newspaper article about a couple found dead overdosed on drugs and it mentioned Spencer being left there. He realized they must have been his parents although he couldn't make sense of why Mark seemed so close to the boy. He bumped the laptop and it came on. It was his lucky day since no password was needed. It was a police file of a man and reading it made his mouth drop open. The man had been in and out of prison and was even wanted on various charges ranging from rape, smuggling, child abuse, trafficking and the list went on. His name was Merle Wilds but the file stated he was likely using different names and alias's.  Next to it was another file of a 15 year old girl found walking the streets, half naked and drugged; later found out that her name was Allison Garcia. She stated at a later time that her father had done this to her and that his name was Mel Garcia. A drawn picture of the man looked very much like Merle Wilds.

Ace was staring at the file of Allisons. She was exotically beautiful and he was betting that she was related to the girl in the picture with Mark. It was so obvious they were all related and he might be a cousin to her. At the bottom of the file was the girls address and phone number of the group home she was placed in. Mark must have an investigator working for him to have all this information. On an impulse, he dialed the number. A woman answered with a tired voice. "Could I speak to Allison?"

"How do you know her?" The woman asked with suspicion in her voice.

Ace hesitated for a moment and said, "School."

"Oh," she said with a sigh and bellowed, "ALLISON! Come get this phone and tell your boyfriends to call your prepaid phone."

Ace rubbed his knee trying to think of what he was going to say and then a voice that sounded confused said, "Hello?"

 Swallowing hard, he said, "You don't know me. My name's Ace Gearings."

The girl hesitated. "What do you want?"

For a moment, Ace thought she was going to hang up. "Um I have a weird question for you. Do you know a Mark Wilds?"

The pause went on a long time. "I'm not sure. Should I?"

"I think he's related to your dad and theres a file here about you.' Then he said quickly before she could respond or hang up. "I don't know Mark very well. I just got here and my mom was his sister. I'm trying to find out what kind of person he is."

Her breathing became faster and heavier before she spoke. "I don't know but if he's anything like my father, he's a monster." 

Ace could hear her weeping. "Are you alright?"

"No and I have to get off here before she comes back. Her husband keeps coming in my room," she said in a rush.

"Can I have your cell phone number?"

Very quickly, she gave it to him and then hung up just as that woman started yelling again.

Ace hung up just in time to hear walking in the hallway. He peeked out and saw Mark carrying Spencer to his room. The kid was finally quiet and looked pooped out. As Mark went into the kids room, Ace went back to his own thinking of all the things he had just learned. Was Mark a monster too? If he was, he knew how to fake being a nice guy. Of course, fakes always had motives. Obviously, the man had come from a horrid past and was investigating for something. Why? He wasn't ready to ask Mark yet because the facade could come off. Things could get ugly and he wasn't sure what his next move was going to be, but he felt a pulling towards this girl. He wanted to know her.