Primary Valor by Jack Mars (smart books to read .txt) 📕

was to catch her lying. Who knew why they did what they did?

It went like this:

Yes, she had been attacked on thebeach with Rob Haskins.

Yes, they were drunk at the time.

No, she had no idea who attackedthem.

Yes, she had gone to an islandwhere Darwin King lived. Yes, she had been taken there by airplane, against herwill. Yes, they had drugged her during the trip. She couldn’t remember much ofit.

Yes, that was a photo of Darwin.

Yes, a woman named Elaine wasthere. Yes, that was a photo of her.

Yes, Darwin and Elaine held hercaptive on the island, inside an old mansion. No, she was not free to leave. Theykept her locked in a dark room most of the time.

Yes, there were men with gunsthere. Wherever she went in the house, at least one man with a gun escortedher. Most of the men were foreigners and did not seem to speak English.

No, no one raped her. No, no onehad sex with her.

No, she had never had sex before,not with Rob Haskins, not with Darwin King, not with anyone.

Yes, she had seen several peopleget killed. She wasn’t sure how many.

Yes, the FBI agent named LukeStone had rescued her. Yes, he had killed several people. Yes, that was a photoof him.

No, her mother’s boyfriend Jeffhad never touched her. Jeff had lived with them for a long time, but had barelyeven interacted with her, and showed no interest in her at all.

Yes, she knew that Jeff was dead. Yes,she knew he had killed himself. No, she had no idea why.

Yes, she knew her grandfather wasdead.

That last one always hit her so hard,it ended whatever interview they were having. She couldn’t answer that onewithout breaking down. Then she couldn’t answer another one. She didn’t want toanswer another question, ever again.

She sat now, staring straightahead in the dim light. Her bedroom was here, with all the things she used tolike. There was a Britney Spears poster on one wall. Oops, I did it again. Therewas a David Beckham poster opposite Britney. He was wearing small blue shortsand no shirt and was kicking a soccer ball. She used to think how the two ofthem would make a nice couple.

There was a brown teddy bear onthe bed with her that she’d had for a long time. Her father had given it to herto remember him by. She was careful with that teddy bear, and always kept itsafe and perfect.

Her cheerleading uniform was stillhanging on the closet door, right where she’d left it. Her computer was on hersmall desk in the corner. She had Hoggard High School pens and pencils. She hada Hello Kitty notepad. The desk was neat, everything lined up, the way sheliked to keep things.

Jeff is dead. Pop Pop is dead.

Her bedroom was meaningless. Itmight as well be empty.

All those other people were dead,too. Elaine, who was so cruel to her for no reason, was dead. The pilot who hadflown the plane was dead. Those bodyguards who came upstairs when the shootingstarted were dead. Soldiers in the jungle were dead. Other men who she hadheard mentioned were dead.

All of these people were deadbecause of her. She had snuck out of the house, like she did sometimes, and allof the people had died.

She couldn’t have known that wasgoing to happen.

She was seeing a therapist everyday. It was a woman therapist, who was older, and who wore glasses. Her namewas Dr. Patricia Kelly. Charlotte would go into her office. Her mom would sitout in the waiting room

“You can call me Pat if you want,”the therapist would say.

Charlotte didn’t want to call heranything. She was nice, but she asked strange questions, too.

Was Charlotte feeling guilty?She didn’t know.

Did she want to go back toschool? No, she never, ever wanted to go back to school.

Why didn’t she want to go toschool? Because the kids there would think differently about her. Theywould think something bad happened to her. They would think it was her fault. Theywould believe all kinds of rumors.

Did it matter what the otherkids thought? What kind of question was this? Of course it mattered. Did itmatter if the world stopped turning?

Did she feel like she might behappier right now if she stayed in a hospital for a little while? Not really ahospital, just a place where people could watch her carefully and make sure shewas safe and okay. No. She didn’t feel like she would be happier in a loonybin, but thanks for offering.

Did she ever think about DarwinKing? No. She never thought about him. She knew he was being held inprison, but that was it. She wasn’t interested in him, and didn’t care whathappened to him at all.

That part was a lie. She just saidit because she thought that was what the woman wanted to hear. The truth wasCharlotte thought about Darwin all the time. It was strange, but she almosthoped that he would get free somehow, that the judge would find him not guilty,or that he would escape.

She pictured him in her mind. Itwas almost like he was in the room with her.

He was old, but he was alsohandsome in his way. He had probably been very handsome when he was younger. Hewas tall. He had blue eyes that she would never forget.

He had stolen her, but he had nothurt her. He could have, but he didn’t. He didn’t let anyone else hurt her,either.

He lived in a beautiful house, ina beautiful place.

He had chosen her to be there.

He had told her that she wasbeautiful.

He had told her that he loved her.

It confused her, the feelings shehad about this. Yesterday, or maybe the day before (she was losing track oftime), she had looked up a question on the internet.

Can you fall in love with theman who kidnapped you?

It turned out there was acondition some people got when they were kidnapped. They came to identify withthe kidnappers. For some vulnerable people, young people, it could happen rightaway. They could come to believe that the kidnappers were in the right, and itwas the rest of the world who was wrong. The