Relentless (Elisabeth Reinhardt Book 1) (12 page)

They sat cross-legged on stuffed easy chairs sipping herbal tea from over-sized mugs. The children were in bed, the dishes were done and they could talk. ‘Girl-talk’ time was one of the highlights of their week. Tonight however there was some tension. Tanya wanted to know what was going on with Gina and she wanted details. She was a smart woman who had achieved a lot during her 36 years of life. She had grown up on the lower east side, the middle of 5 children born to an African couple who had emigrated from Ghana. Her father knew just a few words of English when he found employment in the meat-packing district. Her mother cleaned offices until Tanya was 3 when they opened a small booth in the Chicago Farmer’s Market selling hot-dogs and sausages finally accumulating enough money to open a tiny restaurant featuring Ghanaian foods. The children were raised underfoot and learned the value of hard work from an early age, all of them washing dishes, setting tables and waiting on the customers. When Tanya went to school she applied the same values of hard work to her studies. She attended Kennedy King College on a full scholarship attaining her RN and later at the University of Illinois she earned her Master’s Degree in Nursing.

Her greatest skill however was not her knowledge. It was her people skills. Tanya had an earthy wisdom and keen intuition. It clicked into gear when she supervised staff in the NICU and when she held a sick baby in her arms. It clicked into gear now. “So, girlfriend,” she said, dark eyes studying the woman across from her, “What’s up with you?”

Gina fingered her spikey brown quills, “You mean this?”

“Sure, that,” Tanya replied, “but more than that. What’s all this about?”
she waved her hand in a circle, “Your hair looks like shit, excuse my French, you’re walking all weird, and you’re jumpy as a cat in a room full of rocking chairs. What’s up with you?”

Gina folded her arms and looked away deciding what to tell her. Tanya was her best friend but these deep dark worries
, she had never told anyone, except her therapist. 

“
OK,” she said deciding, “but please let me tell you this my way, OK? It’s a long and ugly story, but here goes. I’m going to give you the Readers Digest version and later we can talk specifics if we want, OK?”

“I’m all ears, Sugar…” Tanya said sipping her tea.

“Here goes,” Gina said, “I was abused as a kid, by my crazy older cousin. My mother didn’t believe me and my father was too busy with the farm to be concerned. My cousin Jake was obsessed with me and I am convinced he is still after me. There are things I still don’t remember but I know that I ran away from home when I was 14 and my guidance counselor helped get me placed in foster care in North Carolina. I lived with the Baker family. They had a girl close to my age and we became the best of friends. Her name was Linda. She and I joined the church choir; ran track in school and every Thursday night we volunteered at the Home for the Aged. Reading to the residents, writing letters for them, and listening to them talk about their lives.”

“Hold up a minute, Sugar” Tanya interrupted, “you sound like you’re reciting the damn phone book. Slow down and talk to me.”

Gina smiled wryly. “I guess I just want to get it over with, sorry.”

“Don’t apologize, just talk to me.”

“Ok you’re right. Well I never had a best friend before, never had any friends really. So being with that family, with my foster sister, it was a whole new experience to have someone to talk to and do things with. I had never been so happy in all my life. Tanya, these were wonderful kind people, the family, their neighbors, all of them. Mrs. Goodwin, that’s my counselor’s name, she traveled twice a year to visit me in Asheville and make sure I was doing alright. Every time she briefed us on all the news about Jake and his friends; whether he was in jail or not, whether he’d been to Hurricane or not. During those years, she and I stayed in touch through ads in the paper, it was only later that we set up email accounts. Every Sunday she would place an ad in the classified section of the Ashville Citizen-Times. If the ad said ‘Cocker Spaniel puppies for sale $200 call 828-210-7861’ it meant there was nothing new about Jake. If the ad said ‘Beagle puppies for sale’ that meant there was new information about Jake. If that happened I would call her at the school where she worked from a public phone and find out what happened. We knew Jake was still after me because every so often he’d show up around the school asking about me and showing people my picture. We worried he’d discover that Mrs. Goodwin was my contact and hurt her so we kept our contact down to a bare minimum.

We had no clue if Jake knew how to use the internet but we didn’t want to take any chances. He had been in prison and we thought maybe he learned how to use it there.
So when I went to Medical School we set up secret email accounts that we both accessed by public computers where there was Wi-Fi. She went to the public library and I made the rounds of local cafés. I know this sounds really ‘out there’ but you’ll see it was all very necessary. To be safe, I never went out alone and most of the time when I did go out I wore a hat or a scarf and sunglasses so I would be hard to recognize. I got in the habit of staying away from public places. I kept off the internet, my foster sister logged on for me, Oh and when I first got there I changed my name to Regina Baker and never used the name Raines or Reggie Lee again, knowing if Jake ever heard those names, it would take him no time to find me.”

“This is beginning to sound like a
LIFETIME
movie, Gina. Are you serious about all this? I can’t decide if I want to come over there and hug you or call the cops to take you to the looney bin!”

“For now, Tanya, please just listen it will all make more sense in a little bit. My co
unselor emailed this last week.” Gina passed over a folded sheet of paper, and with a wry expression, “in case you don’t remember what my real hair looked like, my username is ‘halodoc!’”

“Oh, I get it, your blonde halo!”

“Yes, now read that,” Gina said.

“Ok i
f you say so, Sugar” Tanya said, “but this is all a lot to take in all at once.”

“I know, but read,” Gina said.

“
Seriously is this for real, Girl? I mean really for real? You have a killer on your trail?” Tanya asked apprehensively, as she handed the email back to Gina.

“I’m afraid
so,” Gina said and grimly passed her a press clipping from a recent press conference in Hurricane, West Virginia, which Tanya read with tightening lips.

“How crazy is this cousin of your anyway,” Tanya asked after reading the article.

Gina shook her head and said, “He’s the real deal,
Tawn
. He’s violent and he’s obsessed with me.” Gina filled in whatever details she knew; then explained about the hair, the changes in her walk and her Tae Kwon Do lessons and then she told her about Gil.

“Are you kidding me? Your shrink gave you a
body guard? Wow! She’s not like any kind of shrink I ever heard of! And look at you with your own Dick Tracy! I tell you that crazy cousin of yours has no idea what he’s getting himself into! You and your protection guy, you’re like Wonder Woman and Superman!” Tanya tried to lighten the mood but it was a ‘no go.’ She saw the look in Gina’s eyes and backtracked. “Sorry, Honey,” she said, “I know it’s serious. One thing I am puzzled about is how you keep your spirits up? You are such a hopeful person. How have you been able to maintain your faith in G-d after all of this happened to you?”

“
I owe that to the Bakers too. The first week I lived with them they asked me to go with them to church. I’d never been before and didn’t want to go but I wanted to be cooperative so I said yes. The church had a big sign on the front lawn that read

“
A
ll In Need Of Hope May Enter And Find Love Within Our Walls
.
”

I still remember those words because I have to say that really was the truth. I did find hope and love there. I went to services every Sunday. I found faith in
G-d and renewed my faith in humanity. When I accepted Christ as my Lord and Savior I knew he would be in my heart forever. I knew that he would guide my footsteps. Every day I lived with them I moved further and further from my past. Soon I stopped thinking of myself as Reggie Lee Raines and became Regina Baker of the Baker family of Asheville, North Carolina.”

“Wait I’m confused, when did you become Gina Reynolds?” Tanya asked frowning.

“That happened when I left Asheville and went off to Medical School. I changed my name from Regina Baker to Gina Reynolds. I went through this name change thing twice already and am determined not to have to do it another time. I want this name change to be my
last.
”

“Now how come you
changed your name again?” Tanya asked pressing for more information.

“One day, just before I was due to leave for Medical School, I saw Jake. He was cruising through Ashville. I knew he was looking for me. I left soon after that,
cut off all ties with everyone I knew from my past, except for Mrs. Goodwin, we kept up our minimal contact.”

“So you don’t see the Bakers anymore? You don’t even talk to them?”

“No. Gina shook her head, “It’s just too dangerous. I cannot do anything that would lead him to their house.” Tanya looked at her with concern.

“
Do you think you and Twinkie should move in over here for a while? The kids would love it.”

“No thanks,
Tawny. Gil installed new locks and stuff at my place. I think I’ll be ok.” Tanya scoffed, “Now don’t B.S. me, Girl, you don’t believe that for a minute. You’re scared to death.”

“
I know and I am trying not to be. I don’t know how he could know where I am. I think I’m safe for a while anyway.” Tanya looked at her skeptically, “Gina if you feel unsafe you should move in here with us,” Tanya insisted, but Gina shook her head. “You don’t know how dangerous this guy is, Tawny, I’m not telling you this cause I want to move in here, I just want you to know that this is happening so you can understand why I’m acting so weird these days.”

They were silent for a few minutes when Gina spoke up, “
And Tanya, if anything does happen to me I wanted you to know … well, I wrote up a new will and…”

Tanya
held up her hand in a STOP gesture, “We are
not
going there right now, girlfriend, we are not going to talk about you ending up dead and wills and shit. That’s just way out of my comfort zone.” But the seriousness of the situation was beginning to dawn on Tanya. She thought about her children sleeping upstairs in their beds and wondered if she could protect them if something really horrible happened. There was danger lurking out there somewhere maybe not too far away. Her worried dark eyes met Gina’s nervous blue ones and they silently affirmed the seriousness of the situation.