26 | Guilty

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━━━─── • ───━━━

Liberty •

Guilty.

Chase Marquette is guilty.

Liberty Carlyle pondered that for several minutes, trying to figure out what he'd done to her sister. While standing at the doorway of her house, she contemplated how to bust him. But now, she was ready to see Luna, with Vikram and Sarah.

"Sarah! Are you ready to see mummy?" Liberty yelled, calling out for her little niece.

"Yay!"

Luna had been in the hospital for over a week, and it didn't feel right to Liberty. Chase had been acting strange around both her and Vikram, and he'd struck her as somebody who was hiding something.

He dared to show them a video of Luna talking to herself, but she was sure it was a fake copy. Liberty had been with her sister the whole time they were in the city. Luna told her about the last time she spoke to Sam. She watched her sister sob and curl up into a corner for months because his death was difficult for her to process.

And Chase ticked her off the other day when she wanted to grab clothes for Sarah, but he ignored that. So she and Vikram rented a hotel room for a few nights and grabbed some toys when he let them into the house.

What Chase didn't realize, he wasn't the only one on Luna's health care directive. Liberty was added as a secondary Health Care Proxy and will make other arrangements. She had planned for Luna and Sarah to stay in Houston until things had calmed down.

She knew that when she last hugged Luna, her sister sobbed tremendously in her arms. What set her off was getting a call at midnight from Chase telling her he brought her into St. Matthew's. She was appalled by how Luna was admitted, and how Sarah was now kept away from her mother.

Liberty wished Vikram was there at the house with them, but he stayed at the hotel until it was time to visit Luna. They had spoken little about the moment Luna hopped into Chase's Porsche, with her clothes torn and no shoes on.

She even noticed a few splotches of blood in the bathroom and thought Luna must've started her period while they were in there. But something still didn't feel right with that. If her sister had her period, surely she'd clean herself up. Chase was guilty of something, and Liberty couldn't figure it out.

She'd even found pills hidden under the bed and was sure Chase slipped Luna narcotics. She would've grabbed a pill to have it analyzed, but Chase may notice it was missing, and more problems would occur.

"Do you have the directions, Libby?"

"Yes. I remember where it is. I've been away from New Orleans for a while, but I can still find my way." Liberty leaned down and grabbed her keys off the end table. "What about my sister's studio? Luna may lose her customers who pay good money for her services. Do you even care about that?"

Chase smirked, and she wanted to slap it off his face. She disliked using any negative tone of voice in front of Sarah, but she despised this man. "Luna's going to lose her business. She loved her studio."

He asked, "Could you please do something for me?"

"Hell no."

Chase let out a sigh and rolled his eyes. "Just tell Lu that I'm sorry."

Liberty laughed. "Don't call her Lu, and I won't tell her anything. You know that's a trigger point for her."

"That's what you call her.  What is the difference?"

"It doesn't matter what the difference is," Liberty grumbled. "But seeing as how you don't seem to understand or even give a damn, Sam used to call my sister Lu-Lu when they were younger. His voice was masculine. Our father doesn't call her that because he knows she could regress by hearing a male tone call her 'Lu.' That's why it's different for me and you do it to annoy her. You always did."

As soon as she was done chewing him out, Liberty rushed to her pink Volkswagen and buckled Sarah into her car seat. Then she glared back at Chase as he stood on the porch, an arm above his head and a beer can in the other hand.

"When you get there, talk to Dr. Kim. He's an Asian man who will explain everything happening with Luna. Then, I'll expect an apology."

"Screw your apology, you wanker. Something happened when you and Luna rode away that day. I could see it in her eyes, and she had tears in them. You took advantage of her, I know you did."

Chase crossed his arms over his chest and spread his legs. "Advantage?"

"You hurt her! I saw blood on the floor!"

Chase's smirk over his jaw turned into a small smile, followed by a tiny laugh. That was a sign of a person who was guilty and Liberty knew that because she was a counselor for abused women. She could tell his body language was off.

"I don't know what happened, but something caused my sister to forget her sandals and ride off with you. You did something to her, and I won't stop until the truth is revealed. You're guilty. That, I know."

Turning the engine over, she backed out of the driveway and peered into her rearview mirror, watching him throw his hat onto the ground, stomping hard.

Guilty.

━━━─── • ───━━━

As Liberty drove in front of Luna's Photography Studio, she parked in front of The Indian Café instead since there weren't any spots available on the other side.

"Mommy! Is my mommy at work?" Sarah asked, glancing up from her coloring sheet.

"Not here, little one. We will see her soon."

When Liberty opened her door, Mera from the restaurant walked over to her side and smiled. "Well, hello, Miss. Liberty. How are you and Sarah doing?"

"We are good, Mera. How's your restaurant?"

"It's good."

Mera, who was in her early forties, frowned and craned her head toward the studio, then met Liberty's gaze. "Is Luna all right?"

"Oh. My sister came down with something and has her shop closed at the moment."

"That sounds bad." She adjusted her hijab. "I've missed talking to Luna. After seeing the notice Mr. Marquette put up, it had me worried."

Liberty reached in and unbuckled Sarah, then swooped her up into her arms.

Mera's son, Raul, skateboarded toward them and stopped. "Hey, guys. Where's Luna?"

"She is ill at the moment. But we'll try to get the studio back opened again. It was her livelihood."

They all chuckled under a cloudy sky, a light rumble booming above them.

"When Chase pulled up in his Porsche and slammed his door, I thought something was wrong. I was outside, and he gave me a death stare," Raul explained. "Once he had left, I walked over and shook my head at what he posted on her door."

"What did he post?"

"He wrote something horrible as a reason why the business was closed," he said.

Liberty looked both ways before crossing the street and walked with Sarah as they came close to Luna's door.

BUSINESS IS TEMPORARILY CLOSED BECAUSE THE PHOTOGRAPHER IS A NUTJOB. CHECK BACK IN A CENTURY TO MAKE AN APPOINTMENT.

"Chase posted this?" she asked, and both Raul and Mera nodded. "I hope no one took this seriously. I hadn't come by in four days and he does this crap?"

"Chase is a scumbag," Raul said. "We've removed several of his posters, but he always puts a new one up."

"Well, I'm taking this one down now. Can you watch her for a moment?" Liberty asked Mera, handing Sarah to her.

"I figured they must've argued," Raul said. "It probably had to do with Luna's necklace."

"Which necklace?" Liberty asked.

"Luna had a necklace with her name inscribed in Urdu calligraphy. I saw her and Chase arguing about it over here one day."

"I've seen the necklace. It's pretty and thoughtful of you, Raul."

"I didn't send it, but I believe it was someone in Islamabad."

"It wasn't you? I knew you had a crush on her."

Raul quickly shook his head. "It wasn't me. I can't remember the sender's name on the package."

"Maybe it'll come back to you." Liberty fished her keys out of her purse and unlocked the door. "What part of Pakistan are you guys from?"

"Lahore. My mother is Pakistani, and my father is from Spain."

"I love your heritage. Spanish and Pakistani."

Liberty checked Luna's mailbox before going inside and pulled out countless letters that fell out of her hands. Mostly bills and inquiries from her clients about their photographs. Raul reached down and helped her collect them.

Upon opening the door to the studio, Liberty stepped in first and laid her things down on a table, then headed toward a storage closet to grab plastic sheets Luna stashed away.

"Do you need any help?"

"Please. Thanks. I was going to cover everything up so dust and mold won't settle on the surfaces. Luna hated dust on our furniture growing up."

Raul chuckled.

While opening the closet door, several small items fell out, then he stepped closer and bent down to pick up a box with the postage on it.

"That's the sender's name!" Raul blurted out.

Liberty kept her eyes settle on him. "What does it say?"

"His name is Amir Khan. I knew it was an easy eight-letter name."

"I'm shocked Luna received the jewelry from a client in another country. He must have visited New Orleans."

"Probably. I hope Chase never saw this box," Raul said, shifting his eyes to Liberty.

"Me too. He was a jerk when he was jealous about anything. Especially when Sam died. Chase was enraged after seeing Luna talking to herself."

Her lips formed into a thin line as she threw her hand over her mouth. Liberty had forgotten not everyone knew about her sister's past, and the family across the street was never informed.

Raul's eyebrows furrowed. "She did what?"

"Don't worry about it. Luna isn't seeing anyone who's not there," Liberty said, trying to play it off.

"But what if she was?"

"What do you mean?"

"I don't want to make her sound crazy, but she hasn't been herself," he said, waltzing in behind her as they made their way into Luna's office.

"If you know something, tell me."

"Well, one day during Christmas time Luna came to our restaurant and learned to cook meals we prepare. She wanted to learn how to cook Chicken Karahi."

Liberty smiled. "I've had that before."

"The day Luna was in the kitchen, only my mother and one of my cousins were inside. They were standing on the other side of the counter while watching her . . . I don't know . . . talk to herself. She was giggling, smiling, and looking as if someone were in there helping her."

"Nobody was around, Raul?" she asked, and he shook his head. "Couldn't Luna have been acting that way because she enjoyed learning to cook something different for a change?"

"Perhaps, but it was odd to see her carrying on like someone was next to her. My mother was going to give her teaching lessons."

"That's nice. I thought Luna's enjoyment of eating Indian food was because of us. Vikram and I eat it all the time."

Raul beamed. "Do you think you should post a different sign for the front door? Luna has people who stop by occasionally, and Chase's sign was horrible."

"You're right. I will turn everything on and type a better notice, but this time, I'll make several copies for you guys. Chase isn't going to get away with this."

Raul nodded, then grabbed his skateboard. "I'll go check on Sarah and come back."

Liberty punched in the password Luna used for her computer and pulled up her Microsoft Word bookmark. Then she typed a different closing message, one that Luna would be proud of.

LUNA'S PHOTOGRAPHY STUDIO IS TEMPORARILY CLOSED DUE TO A PERSONAL MATTER. IF YOU HAVE ANY QUESTIONS OR INQUIRIES, PLEASE CALL LIBERTY CARLYLE AT 832-555-4908. THANK YOU FOR UNDERSTANDING.

After typing the notice, she pressed 'print' and waited for it to come out of the printer. In the meantime, she checked her Facebook and browsed at Luna's Photography page. She had several new reviews, followers, and reactions to her latest photography post.

As she browsed through the other photos Luna had posted, her jaw dropped as she noticed the familiar name Raul was speaking about. Amir Khan. He commented on a selfie Luna took inside of the studio when she was bored.

You don't have to be bored. We could go on a virtual tour of the city. 

She then clicked on his page and saw who Luna was talking to. The man was mouth-watering handsome, with a deep lustrous light brown complexion, and lived in Islamabad. Their messages between each other seemed all right; nothing alarming.

Liberty then checked out Amir's other stuff he'd posted on his page and clicked on a video of him at the jeweler, creating her present.

"This gift I'm getting made is for someone special. She lights up my world in ways I can't even describe. This woman is a beautiful, intelligent, and caring person who deserves beautiful things given to her daily. I am honored to have met her and have her in my life. I've never been more blessed, especially during Christmas. You know who you are. I'm thinking about you, and your little one."

Liberty cried a little and thought he sounded genuine with his words. Amir knew about Sarah, and maybe he knew about Chase, but he sounded honest and true. She thought he could be a keeper.

Quickly logging out of the computer, Liberty hopped up and darted for the door. After pinning her sign on the inside window, she looked over at the café and saw they were open for business.

After closing everything down, she sprinted across the street and grabbed Sarah, quietly hoping everything will go as planned when she speaks to Luna about what she uncovered.

Chase was guilty, and a stranger.

He couldn't hide it forever and Liberty will not let him.

━━━─── • ───━━━

Fun fact: 4908 in Liberty's phone number is my son's birthday; April 9, 2008. 💫


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