Caleb 57 - Sister

"It's a discussion you need to have with them at some point. But going back to Melanie. What do you think you're going to do?"

I looked at Dianna and shrugged.

"I have no idea," I said wearily.

"Why not simply live it," said Dianna, "and let it develop into whatever it is going to be. Give Melanie what she wants. Allow her to thank you, if that's what she feels she needs to do. There are never guarantees with relationships Caleb. There are many marriages, happy marriages, out there that started out with some kind of rescue or other. People come together for all kinds of reasons."

I nodded "I guess," I said. I went to hand her the device back, but she shook her head.

"Keep it," she said. "You'll need it to remove Melanie's amulet when It's time. I'm glad to see that you are being sensible about that and waiting until her body is strong enough. The reason I didn't give you that earlier was that I thought you might just go ahead and remove it because of your hatred of them."

"She's not ready yet," I said. "And Maggie's little game backfired. Melanie saw through her."

Dianna laughed.

"You think?" she said. "Do you know what Maggie's goal was then?"

"It was..." I began but then thought about it. I'd assumed it was a dig at me, to put me in the spot of someone who had to withhold something from someone for their own good. What else could her goal have been?

Then it clicked.

If Maggie assumed that Melanie would see through the play, it served a bigger purpose. To bring us, as siblings, closer together.

"She's been doing this a long time," said Dianna seeing my expression. "Don't ever assume you know Maggie's true motivation, for anything."

She stood. "I need to get going," she said. "Thanks for the lunch." She leaned down and kissed my cheek before going into the house. I stayed seated, thinking over all that she'd said to me.

"Caleb?" I looked up, Jules was standing by the kitchen door.

"Hmm?"

"Can we move the bed out of my workshop?" she said. "It's kind of obvious that Melanie isn't going to use it."

I smiled. "Sure," I said standing up. "Let's do that."

We moved the bed out of Jules' workshop, back into the attic. I could hear something going on in the street. When we were done, I went out on the front porch to see that there was a mobile tire van parked across the street. It seemed he was just finishing up replacing the valves on all of the tyres on Tom Pritchard's car.

Pritchard was talking to the mechanic, apparently signing something. The mechanic got into his van and drove away. As he turned to go back into his house, Pritchard spotted me on my porch and glared at me. I grinned at him and waved.

He stomped into his house and slammed the door.

I went back into our house. Just before I closed the door, I heard the hiss, as all four valves once more leapt away from his tires.

Two hours later, there was a knock on our door. I opened it to find Debs and her partner Steve standing on the doorstep.

"Hey Debs," I said. "What's up?"

"Can we come in?" said Steve.

"Sure," I said. allowing them in. They followed me into the living room where the girls were all sitting. Josh and Louise were out on the deck.

"We've had a complaint."

"Mr. Pritchard again?"

Debs nodded.

"Apparently someone has vandalized his car."

"Really?" I said "What, spray paint, keyed it, what?"

"Tore out all the valve stems of his tires."

I laughed.

"Well -- so that was why the tire guy was here," I said. "Why'd he wait so long to complain? He got it fixed first and then complained?"

"No," said Debs. "They did it again AFTER he'd had them fixed."

I laughed again. "Couldn't have happened to a nicer guy. So he's pointing the finger at me? No surprise there. I don't suppose he has any evidence, pictures of any of us doing anything, or is he just mudslinging again?"

"He has nothing" she said. "But you have security cameras. You mind if we take a look?"

"If it wasn't you," I said, "I'd say no. but since It is you, then sure."

I got Jules to cue up the video of the front porch, from the time the tire guy was at Pritchard's house. I appeared on the porch and then went in the house. Jules fast forwarded the footage showing that nobody had left the house. The next figures on the porch were Debs and Steve.

Then I had an idea.

"Jules. Go back to just as I went in the house. Crank up the volume. I'm sure I heard something."

Jules did as requested, and sure enough, just as I closed the door, a distinct hiss was heard on the footage.

"Well, that sounds to me like air escaping from tires," I said, "but you can clearly see it's not me. You think he's doing it himself, to give him something to complain about?"

"Looks that way," said Steve. "I think we need to go and have another word with Mr. Pritchard.

"Thanks Caleb. We'll enter it as another malicious call and give him another warning. Again, we can't prove he did it himself since all we have is a hiss that could be anything. You think you could turn one of your cameras on his house?"

"What, and get reported for illegal recording?" I asked. "I know the first amendment says I can record, but if I point a camera at his house, he'll claim I'm trying to look through his windows or something. I don't need that kind of noise."

"Good point," said Debs. "Thanks for showing us the footage anyway. It's obvious there's something wrong with that guy. Leave it with us."

"No problem," I said. "It was good to see you again."

I showed Debs and Steve out, returning to the living room to be met with a set of grins.

"You know," said Mary. "I didn't know you could be quite so devious."

"Me neither," said Jules. "Getting them to think it was Pritchard himself doing it was a stroke of genius."

The tire guy had just left for a second time when I went to bed. I looked out of the window. Pritchard was doing something in his window. I looked closer and realised he was setting up a small video camera, to watch his yard. I grinned.

When I got up the next morning, I once again looked out of my window. I could see the camera, little red light flashing sitting on the window ledge inside the window. I reached out with my TK and gently pulled the power cord from the device. The red light went out.

I couldn't hear the hiss as he tires went flat once more. I decided to do my exercise in the yard for this morning.

Just before eight there was a pounding on my door.

I opened it to find a very irate Tom Pritchard standing there.

"I know it's you," he yelled. As soon as I opened the door. "I know it's you and I'm going to prove it."

"I'm sorry?" I said. "What's me and what are you going to prove?"

"You did it again" he said. "This is three times now. You've vandalized my car. Not to mention getting it towed illegally."

"Illegal towing?" I said. "I'd be careful about talking too loudly about that. You see I have video of you illegally posting no parking signs up and down the street that morning. I guess you called the towing company and did some sort of deal with them to tow away cars of guests from my party.

"My bet is that when the tow truck driver got here and nearly got arrested, he decided to get his revenge and tow your car. Sorry to disappoint you, but it had nothing to do with me. So, unless you have something called proof, I'm going to ask you to get off my porch and stop harassing me. This is the last warning. Next time I will go for a restraining order against you."

"I'm going to catch you," he swore, "And when I do -- you're going to Jail."

"You've been asked to leave," I said. "I won't ask again."

He turned and stomped off the porch.

I was about to close the door when I saw Marcia's truck pull up. She got out and moved to the back, getting her tools out before heading up to the house.

"Morning," I said. She smiled at me.

"Good morning," she said. She looked tired.

"Good weekend?" I asked expecting her to say she was partying all weekend.

"Not really," she said. "But it's over now. So, time to go to work."

I made breakfast for everyone, Marcia included. I had a couple of hypnotherapy appointments at the range. As I was getting ready to leave, Melanie left the house.

"Where you going?" I asked.

"DMV," she said. "I need to get registered and get my student learner permit. Then, I'm going to the bank. I'll register at yours so it might be easier."

"Don't forget to tell them that you have two hundred and fifty thousand dollars to deposit once you get the account opened, and here." I said pulling out my wallet. "You'll need something to open the account with, and some bus fare."

"Mary already gave me some money," she said. "I have enough."

"Oh," I said, "okay then."

"I'll see you later," she said leaning in to kiss my cheek. Then she walked off up the road, swinging her hips sassily. She was starting to fill out and her ass was turning into something worth watching.

I got in my truck and started to back out of the drive. I had to stop for a moment to allow the tire truck to pass, heading to Tom Pritchard's house.

When I got to the range my first client was the Chinese guy again. I sent him off to sleep, and did one of my assignments, for a class that I'd never even set foot in so far. With impeccable timing, I just finished it as the session was due to end. I brought him out of his 'trance,' he transferred his fee across, and then he left.

I went back into the waiting area. Maddison and Alena were sitting there. Maddison looking solemn, Alina looking like she'd been hit by a Mack truck. Her nose looked like it had been broken and one of her eyes was swollen shut.

I gritted my teeth but pretended not to notice. I wasn't going to wait any longer before doing something about this hostel.

I had thought for hours about what I could do to help, and realized that there wasn't any all-encompassing solution. The girls that were in the hostel had been pulled into a bad situation, but as I'd said to Ness, I couldn't help everyone. I was, however, going to help this one. Then I'd speak to Maggie about the hostel and what was going on there and, with any luck, she'd get INS involved and they would get shut down. What happened to the other girls there would be in the hands of the INS. If I tried to take all of them on personally, I'd be swamped.

My first priority though, was to find out what went on, and how she ended up looking like this.

It turned out, it was my fault.

Alina had gone back to the hostel, having forgotten about the hundred dollars she'd tried to give me, but I'd refused and left with her. I'd prompted her to forget so she wouldn't insist on paying me.

It was only when she got back that she realized that she had it and was caught trying to hide the money. They beat her and took it anyway. She also got no food for three days, although Maddison had made sure she'd had enough to eat.

I was filled with a cold fury that was only tempered by the guilt I felt at causing the girl so much pain.

I went over her body with my Healing and set everything to resolving the injuries suffered. They were professionals it seemed. They knew how to inflict pain without doing enough damage to put their property out of action. I fixed her nose, with an audible crunch, and set that to healing too.

Everyone Alina worked with knew better than to report her assault. They'd all knew her circumstances, knew that the local beat cops were taking money from the Hostel for turning a blind eye, and knew that if they caused a fuss, they would be next. So, they kept quiet.

Then I once more examined the relationship between Alina and Maddison. I didn't want to force anything on either of them if they didn't really have feelings for one another. I saw memories of conversations they'd had, where Maddison had begged Alina to move in with her, and Alina, who had really really wanted to, had only refused because of her fear for Maddison's safety.

A couple of small Compulsions later and Alina had decided that she would, indeed, move in with Maddison. In fact, she had nothing to go back to the hostel for. She would simply go home with Maddison and then build her life from there.

I was going to make sure that the hostel forgot all about her.

"So," I said, having woken them up. "Today's the big day?"

They looked at me, and then both smiled.

"Yes," said Maddison as if continuing a conversation we'd been having. "Alina's coming home with me."

"Good for you," I said. "I hope you have a good life together."

After the pair left to go back to work. I went to have a look at the hostel.

I'd taken its location from Alina's memory, along with memories of all the men and women who worked there.

When I arrived, I simply walked in the front door, freezing anyone and everyone I met inside. I needed time to figure things out. I found an 'office' type room with an older woman sitting inside at a desk.

She apparently had originally come to the US as an illegal, but had been here over ten years, and had managed to worm her way in with the gang. She was smart and she had made herself useful to the extent that she now ran the hostel and kept the girls, particularly the new girls, in line. It was she who had caught Alina with the money and had her beaten.

I wanted to hurt her in return but then Jeevan's words echoed in my mind about whether what I was doing was helping or hurting. I sighed, knowing that I couldn't do anything more than irritate this woman. I'd leave her to the INS but implanted a tiny Compulsion that any time she was questioned she would, without any hesitation, tell the full and complete truth about everything that she'd done.

I got her to open up her computer and remove all references to Alina before removing any memories of the girl from her mind.

I looked for information on others that 'worked' at the hostel, others who knew Alina, and the ones who'd actually beaten her. One was on the premises and I went to see him. I, once again, put the compulsion for truthfulness in his mind before removing all his memories of Alina. In a final fit of spite, I left him with a ring itch he would NEVER be able to get rid of.

There were two other men I needed to find, both of whom were involved not only in running the hostel, but also in some local protection that was going on. I caught up with them in one of the businesses that they were extorting.

Neither they nor the business owner knew I was there and, by the time I'd left, both had absolutely no memory of Alena, very itchy assholes, and a burning desire to go to the local precinct and confess all their sins to the captain there, including naming the police officers on their payroll.

I decided on my way back to the house, that I wasn't going to involve Maggie or the FBI at all. The two guys' confessions at the precinct should be enough to get the INS involved and the hostel shut down. And as far as anyone knew, it had nothing at all to do with me.

I contemplated seeing what I could do about getting Alina a Green Card but then decided that was something, again, that I should not get involved in. I'd gotten her away from the hostel, given her a head start, and I wasn't going to interfere further. I guessed that maybe Maddison and she would get married and get her naturalized in that way.

When I got home, I found Melanie sitting in the living room, looking glum.

"Hey you" I said. "What's up?"

I got my student driver's permit," she said, "but I couldn't open a bank account."

"Why not?" I asked.

"The bank refused," she said. "They said I had no credit history. When I tried to explain about the two hundred and fifty thousand, the woman just laughed in my face and told me to leave before she called security."

"Come on," I said. "Let's go have a word."

"But..."

I grinned at her.

She smiled at me, a little unsure, but got up anyway.

We got in my truck, and as we pulled out of the drive, I once again yanked all four valves from Pritchard's tires.

When we arrived at the bank, I asked to see the manager.

"Can I ask what it's about?" asked the receptionist.

"Yes," I said. "I want to close my account."

I handed her my card and she punched in the details. Since I'd not yet decided what to do with the money, I still had the five million, plus now nearly another eighty thousand in the account. Her eyes widened.

"One moment please," she said, scurrying off and returning moments later.

"Please," she said. "This way."

We followed the woman through a security door, which she held open for us, and then into an office where a man stood waiting for us.

"Mr. Stott," he said beaming as we entered. "George Perton, I'm the manager. Please have a seat. Would you care for coffee, or tea?"

"No, thank you," I said, sitting. Melanie sat on the other chair in front of the desk.

"I have," he continued, "been trying to get in touch with you about your account, to discuss perhaps doing something more profitable with your money, but Olivia tells me that you are wanting to close out your account. Might I ask why?"

"Because," I said, "my sister came into your bank wanting to open an account and not only did you refuse her, your employee was rude to her and told her if she didn't leave, security would be called."

Perton's face drained of color.

"I..." he began. "I don't know what to say. This happened this morning?"

I looked at Melanie. "What time were you here?"

"About eleven thirty," she said.

"Do you remember which window?" he asked.

Melanie looked at me for a moment and then said. "I think number four."

Perton tapped on his keyboard for a moment.

"We have audio and video recording of every window. I would like to see what happened."

He seemed to be skimming through some video before he nodded. "Here we are," he said and apparently rewound a little before projecting the video to the screen on his wall.

There were two camera views, one showing the teller and one showing Melanie, just approaching the window. Melanie had an excited smile on her face that melted my heart. It reminded me in some ways of how Jules got when she was excited about something, like a little girl who'd just been offered ice cream.

"Good morning," said the teller. "How can I help?"

"I'd like to open a bank account please," said Melanie grinning.

She pushed all her ID and some cash toward the teller. The teller looked at her for a moment before picking up the documentation.

"I'm sorry," the teller said. "We're not able to open bank accounts for people like you."

"Like me?" asked Melanie, her face falling.

"You have no credit history," said the teller, who hadn't even looked from what I could see. "I don't know where you got the money, but we don't do those kinds of accounts. Perhaps you should..."

"I have two hundred and fifty thousand dollars to deposit," said Melanie looking upset, "once I get the account opened."

The teller laughed. "And I'm dating Elon Musk," she said, "and only come here for fun. Now please leave."

"But," said Melanie, "I need to..."

"If you don't leave," threatened the teller, "I'll get security to remove you."

Sadly, Melanie picked up her documentation and the hundred dollars, and turned to leave the bank. The teller fixed a smile on her face and called for the next customer.

He cut the video at that point.

"I don't know what to say," he said. "I can only apologize on behalf of the bank and myself. That is certainly not how we would expect our staff to treat customers, no matter who they are."

I shrugged. "So now you know the reason," I said. "May we continue with the account closure please?"

The manager looked at me.

"What would be enough?" he said.

"Excuse me?" I asked.

"Mr. Stott. You may be young, but you're not innocent. You could quite easily have gone online, transferred your balance out and closed your account. You came down here with a purpose. I'm asking what would be enough for me to retain you as a customer. You want an account opened for your sister? Its done. An apology from the bank, from the teller concerned? Done. You want the teller reprimanded or fired?"