Saving Her

Chapter 26. Vendettas and the Love Drug

"Thanks for the notes," Charles slid her composition notebook across the table.

"No problem, did it help at all?" Betty replied as she tucked it away on her bag.

"Actually, yes."

"Please, tell me, I am so curious," she begged.

He let off a breath of air. "I told you I have been tracking them for the last couple of towns?"

She nodded as she sucked on the straw to her vanilla shake.

"How long has Alice been going by the last name Smith?" he wondered.

"For a a while now. Since she divorced my dad, about November of last year, so if we count towards now," she shrugged. "A few months."

"You said your sister Polly has been there for the past couple years?"

"Mhmm. Please, Charles, tell me what you figured out," she asked.

"So, I told you earlier that Edgar knows me, he knows who I am because I have been trying to tear down his merry troop of recruiters. With that in mind, if he knows my name and did his own digging, I'm starting to think he asked Polly to recruit Alice."

She followed along carefully. "But why?"

"If she's related to me, he wanted her to be turned against me."

"Wait, but you... So, you think by going after you, he's going after mom?"

"Pretty much. With having Polly already at hand, it made it easy to prey on Alice's depression and sadness. Since I knew about all of you, after doing my own research, I never thought my secret was out, but as I said, Edgar has an obsession with me."

"Because you have an obsession with taking the Farm down," she assured.

"Yes. So basically what it comes down to, Alice cannot join the Farm because they'll mess with her head and make her believe things that aren't true. I'm sure of it."

"I believe it. Mom, when she first got in with the Farm, she was doing her damnedest to get me to join. I never looked at it the way you are and it makes so much sense. By going after you, he's turning family against you, he's recruiting followers just to drive you crazy. Polly, the twins, my mom, Cheryl..."

"Cheryl?" he wondered.

"Cheryl Blossom, the Coopers are actually Blossoms. She and I are cousins and I can guess that Edgar knew that. When Polly found out she was pregnant, she and our cousin, Jason, the one who got her pregnant, they were supposed to run away together to the Farm."

"Wait, what?" he said just slightly confused. "Polly and Jason are cousins... What?"

"We didn't know we were related to the Blossoms---another secret my dad kept from us until it was convenient. Thankfully for you, you don't have any Blossom blood. You're definitely a Jones. But the point is, Jason and Cheryl were related, Polly, mom and I plus the twins. This is insane."

"My last mole, she was caught immediately. I never saw her again, but there wasn't any proof that he killed her. I know the cult did, either that or she became one with them," he assured.

"So, is mom safe at home with just talking to Edgar over the phone?"

"She's still in contact with him?" his eyes widened.

"Yeah. Apparently they've been texting for the past couple weeks, just keeping her updated with the Farm and telling her how much they miss her. I know they were trying to lure her back, but I don't think she gets it. She just keeps saying he's checking on her."