Part 23 (1/2)
Chapter Forty-four.
Shari sat in front of the television set listening to the World Wide News anchorman. Although the city of Chicago had experienced their fair share of snow and below freezing temperatures, it was incomparable to the unprecedented snow and ice storms affecting the southern part of the country.
According to the anchorman, one of the largest airline carriers in the country had to cancel over 2,000 flights because of the storm. There had been twenty-two weather-related deaths, and over a million homes and businesses were now without power. According to reports from the utility company, more than 500,000 customers were still in the dark.
Shari looked at the $700 utility bill she was holding in her hand. Even though she and Tony still didn't have the money to pay the bill, and the moratorium would be ending in six weeks, her concern about her own family ending up in a cold, dark house seemed trivial in comparison to what she was hearing on TV.
A preview from the six o'clock news appeared on the screen, and Shari's jaw dropped. She picked up her cell phone and called Tia.
”Hey,” Tia answered.
”Tia,” Shari said urgently. ”Turn to Channel Six. Hurry up. The news is about to come on.”
”Why?” Tia asked as she pressed the down arrow on the remote control until she got to the channel.
”It's about our neighbor. I just saw the preview.”
The theme song for the six o'clock news began playing as Tia turned up the volume. She sat glued to her seat as the words Breaking News Update spread big and bold across the screen. Then the female reporter began talking.
”Good evening, everyone,” she began. ”We've just received an update on the arrest of a man in his early fifties who had been posing as a teenager online in order to lure young girls to undisclosed locations.”
A picture of the man who'd been arrested appeared on the screen, his frozen stare drew attention to his hazel eyes, and Tia cringed. She hated that she'd ever been drawn to them in the first place.
”Homer Woodard,” the anchorwoman continued, ”the man who is accused of allegedly kidnapping his neighbor's daughter, is now also being charged with child enticement and using a computer to facilitate a child s.e.x crime. The charges were issued against the suspect after police combed through his laptop and discovered multiple online conversations he'd had with several underage girls.
”Police aren't providing any information pertaining to the nature of the conversations,” the anchorwoman said, ”but the suspect is believed to have met with several of the girls he met online. Currently, he is being held in the county jail on a $5,000 bail. We aren't releasing any of the victims' names due to their ages.”
Tia remained speechless. To think Serenity had been held hostage by this monster! Her stomach began to feel queasy as she thought about how she had allowed herself to be intimate with Homer.
”In addition,” the anchorwoman continued, ”the suspect's mother is believed to have pa.s.sed away in his home just days prior to the kidnapping incident.”
”Mother?” Shari and Tia said at the same time.
”I didn't even know his mother lived with him,” Shari said. ”I never saw her.”
Tia moved the phone to her other ear. She didn't bother to tell Shari that she had taken care of Homer's mother in the hospital, and how surprised she'd been when he'd shown up to take her home. She just wanted to put the memory of him and everything else that had to do with him behind her.
”I wonder when she died,” Shari said. ”I never saw any ambulance or anything.”
”Well, obviously it happened while we weren't at home,” Tia said. ”Otherwise, I'm sure we would have seen or heard something.”
”Lord have mercy. You just never know who's living next door to you, do you?”
”No,” Tia said sadly, ”you don't.”
”I feel sorry for those other girls and their families, but let's thank G.o.d Serenity was able to escape!”
”Oh, I have,” Tia said a.s.suredly. ”Believe me. I have.”
”How is she doing anyway?”
Tia turned off the television set, thankful that the focus was s.h.i.+fting away from Homer. ”All things considered, she's doing okay, I guess.”
”How long are you going to keep dropping her off at school?”
”I'm just trying to give her some time to recuperate before I start letting her stand outside and wait for the school bus again. I just want her to feel safe.”
”You probably need some time to feel the same way, huh?” Shari asked.
”Yeah, I do.”
”Thanks for dropping Cookie off too.”
”Well, they go to the same school so it only makes sense. And Lorenzo is finally making himself useful now by watching for the school bus when they come home.”
”That's good,” Shari said. ”It's a start, don't you think?”
”I guess.” A wave of sadness came over Tia as she recalled the conversation she'd had with Serenity the night she'd escaped from Homer's bas.e.m.e.nt.
”Serenity thinks I don't care about her.”
”Oh, no,” Shari said pressing the mute b.u.t.ton on the remote control, ”that's just her adolescence talking. She knows you love her.”
Tia looked outside at the frozen stillness. She would be so happy when they got past this cold front. ”I don't know,” she said. ”We're not as close as we could be . . . should be. But I'm going to start spending more time with her.”
”You haven't forgotten that all things are possible with G.o.d, right?”
”Right,” Tia said. But how could she expect G.o.d to make everything right when she had done so much wrong?
Chapter Forty-five.
It had been four weeks since Lorenzo had begun attending group therapy sessions. He had finally found the courage to break his own vow, and had decided once again, to divulge what had happened to him as a boy. It hadn't been quite as hard as it had been when he'd told his parents; mainly because several of the men and women in the group of twelve had also been molested when they were younger. Lorenzo was finding out that his situation was not as isolated as he'd thought it to be for so long.
Lorenzo sat in his group therapy session listening to a female client talk. ”Once you forgive your perpetrator,” the woman said, directing her comments toward him, ”G.o.d will take care of the rest.”
She had just finished talking about her own childhood experience but Lorenzo could tell by the creases in her forehead and the way her jaw clenched while she spoke that she still had some forgiving of her own to do.
He tensed up. ”You know this is supposed to be a group of transparency and truth, right?” he said.
She blinked and turned her head slightly. ”What does that mean?”