Everything I Never Asked For

Chapter 34

NIALL'S POV

Greg is waiting in the parking lot and I have him drive us back to our place. 

"You guys have to help me." I talk rapidly as I charge toward the front door once we park in the driveway. To me it feels like the world is orbiting at a million miles per hour, but my neighborhood sits still in a gloomy summer night. There's no wind, no leaves fall, no dogs bark. My house is chilly and a vibe of loneliness engulfs me when I swing the door open. I barge into my fathers office. Everything is organized to the simple placement of his pens on his table. There's a huge black desk to the left with a computer perched on it and two filing cabinets next to it. Another wooden table sits to the right next to three more filing cabinets and two wall cabinets. 

"Go through everything. If you find anything about Jade's parents... maybe pictures, reports, anything with Carmello on it for sure..." I find myself pulling out metal drawers and rummaging through stacks of papers as Louis and Greg stay frozen in the door sill. 

"Niall stop are you crazy?! Dad's going to kill you!" Greg grabs my arms and pulls me away from the cluttered desk. "Do you realize what you're doing?! This is dads stuff! Top secret for a reason! We aren't supposed to see any of this!" 

"I dont care!" I yell into his face. He lets me fall into my dad's swivel chair. I drop my head into my hands. "I dont care Greg. I can't just sit around and do nothing while she's in that room possibly dying! I need to do something! It's my fault she was walking down that street! She should have been with me watching a movie for her birthday but now she' s spending the last hours of her birthday in a hospital bed being operated on by stupid doctors!" 

A silence falls in the room and I can hear my heart beating in my ears. 

"Why would he even have anything on them? Are they criminals?" Louis starts going through papers first. 

"Alex told me dad was hiding them. If their apart of his work he must have some information about them in here somewhere." I lay my head down on his desk.

"Why would dad be hiding anyone? Your friend is messing with you." 

"I dont know, okay? He was pretty convincing. Any possibility is good enough for me. I want to try still. Jade thinks her parents are dead. I want her to know the truth and I can't give it to her until I know for sure." 

Greg shakes his head but starts looking anyway. We spend a good forty minutes digging through drawers and cabinets but nothing comes up. Louis sits in a corner surrounded with five useless piles of papers. Greg investigates my dad's computer. I try to find a new drawer to look through. 

"Did anyone look through this drawer?" I crouch down to the last drawer at the wooden table. Louis gives me a groggy look. 

"No." he rolls his eyes and throws another page on the ground. I tug at the handle and it wont budge. 

"It's locked." I say. "This has to be it. People always lock what they want to hide."

Greg peaks over his shoulder. "Well we don't have a key." I sit on my butt determined not to give up. There has to be a way. Louis groans and sticks his hand in his pocket.

"Move over Niall." He pulls out one of those black pins that girls use.

"Why do you have that?" I try not to laugh because it isn't the right moment. 

"Megan gave them to me okay, I use them when I play sometimes, it helps keep my hair back." He bends it and sticks it in the lock.

"Aren't those illegal in game?" 

"Does it look like I care?" He lowers his eyes at me. "And dont complain, you're about to thank me." He makes a couple maneuvers and the drawer pops open. I crouch and pull it open. A single manila folders lays at the bottom of the drawer. I snatch it and pull out the papers. At the front of the packet of papers is a paperclipped photo of a man and woman. The woman looks exactly like Jade. She's beautiful with rich brown eyes and the same velvety hair. Her lips are covered with a pale red shade of lipstick and I could imagine Jade looking just as pleasant with a similar choice of makeup. The man has grown out a mustache and has jet black short hair. His eyes are a faint blue and his bushy eyebrows remind me of Mr. Walker. Their smiles set a happy scene with a sunny beach background. Typically, the water sparkles, a seagull flies over head, and the sand is a golden yellow.