In the Dark of Night: Book One of the Dark Series

Chapter Thirty-six

"Poor kid," Lucky replied quietly. After listening to Lizzie's words, he was speechless. Judging by what Tommy had been through, his reaction to Lucky had been more than understandable.

"Now, that's an understatement," Lizzie said. "I feel horrible. Those things I said about him..."

As Lucky reached across the counter and took her hand, he said, "You didn't know, Elizabeth."

Lizzie smiled at him. She was happy that they were able to talk before Kelly's opened for business. She needed to come to terms about what Tommy told her, and Lucky was the best sounding board she had ever known.

"You're right. I didn't know, but now that I do, I intend to do whatever it takes to help him," she said, squeezing his hand before she pulled away to continue wiping down the counter.

"What does that mean? What has he asked you to do?" Lucky asked with concern. He liked the fiercely determined aspect of her personality, but he didn't want her to do anything foolish.

"He hasn't asked me to do anything. I want to do something. Something amazing happened between us last night, Lucky. He trusted me. No one in my family has ever trusted me before. I want to prove to him how much that meant to me," she answered as she placed the coffee on to brew.

"Wait a minute, Elizabeth. You don't have to prove anything to him," Lucky began.

"I know that. I want to. I'm not even sure if I can explain this, but listening to him last night helped me in ways that I never thought possible. We connected, Lucky. I mean really connected," she said, looking intently at her best friend.

"That's great, but even if you did connect, he has no business asking you to help him."

"He hasn't asked me to do anything. I want to help him. Don't you see? I need to help him. After talking with him last night, I thought about what happened to me and I realized that catching the man who did this to me is not an option. Too much time has passed. Maybe the police will have some luck. Who knows? The one thing I do know is we can get Tommy's mom back. Tommy believes it and I believe him," Lizzie said with conviction.

"I don't know about this, Elizabeth. It all sounds kind of risky to me. What do the two of you plan to do?"

"Well, I was kinda hoping that it wouldn't be just the two of us," she said.

Lucky sighed. He knew where she was going there with this. And he knew she already knew what his answer would be.

"It won't be. Count me in," he answered. He barely had time to prepare himself before Lizzie squealed and flung herself around the counter and into his arms.

~*~

Keesha was silent as she was passed to two other guards. One of the guards was short, but stocky. He had skin the color of cocoa. His eyes were void of any emotion and didn't acknowledge her presence. The other guard was the opposite. He was tall, maybe six foot three. He was lean and wiry. His skin was pale, and his eyes were such a light shade of blue, that he almost looked as though he didn't have any eyes at all. Keesha named them Shorty and Blue.

Blue took the lead and indicated that Keesha should follow him down another passageway. The trio walked in silence until they reached the opening of what appeared to be a cave to Keesha.

Shorty went to another guard who gave him a tool belt which included picks and a flashlight. He beckoned that Keesha should come to him, which she did. He handed her the tool belt and in as few words as possible, instructed her to put the belt around her waist.