Secrets of Amelia Read online

  Secrets of Amelia

  © 2019 Andrea Anderson

  All rights reserved. This book or any portion thereof may not be reproduced or used in any manner whatsoever without the express written permission of the publisher except for the use of brief quotations in a book review.

  Print ISBN: 978-1-54398-660-0

  eBook ISBN: 978-1-54398-661-7

  Table of Contents

  [ Preface ]

  [ Chapter 1 ]

  [ Chapter 2 ]

  [ Chapter 3 ]

  [ Chapter 4 ]

  [ Chapter 5 ]

  [ Chapter 6 ]

  [ Chapter 7 ]

  [ Chapter 8 ]

  [ Chapter 9 ]

  [ Chapter 10 ]

  [ Chapter 11 ]

  [ Chapter 12 ]

  [ Chapter 13 ]

  [ Chapter 14 ]

  [ Chapter 15 ]

  [ Chapter 16 ]

  [ Chapter 17 ]

  [ Chapter 18 ]

  [ Chapter 19 ]

  [ Chapter 20 ]

  [ Chapter 21 ]

  [ Chapter 22 ]

  [ Chapter 23 ]

  [ Chapter 24 ]

  [ Chapter 25 ]

  [ Chapter 26 ]

  [ Chapter 27 ]

  [ Chapter 28 ]

  [ Chapter 29 ]

  [ Chapter 30 ]

  [ Chapter 31 ]

  [ Chapter 32 ]

  [ Chapter 33 ]

  [ Chapter 34 ]

  [ Chapter 35 ]

  [ Chapter 36 ]

  [ Chapter 37 ]

  [ Chapter 38 ]

  [ Chapter 39 ]

  [ Chapter 40 ]

  [ Chapter 41 ]

  [ Chapter 42 ]

  [ Chapter 43 ]

  [ Chapter 44 ]

  [ Chapter 45 ]

  [ Chapter 46 ]

  [ Chapter 47 ]

  [ Chapter 48 ]

  [ Chapter 49 ]

  [ Chapter 50 ]

  [ Chapter 51 ]

  [ Chapter 52 ]

  [ Chapter 53 ]

  [ Chapter 54 ]

  [ Chapter 55 ]

  [ Chapter 56 }

  [ Chapter 57 ]

  [ Chapter 58 ]

  [ Chapter 59 ]

  [ Chapter 60 ]

  [ Chapter 61 ]

  [ Chapter 62 ]

  [ Chapter 63 ]

  [ Preface ]

  (Hi I’m Amelia and I’m going to tell you my story and share my secret thoughts with you.)

  Things seemed back to normal, but with relief came a lack of vigilance and they let their guard down. Wednesday morning Amelia, Betty and Shelly, left the apartment together as they did most mornings. Shelly, who was spending a lot of time in the lab at the hospital, worked late that evening. Ordinarily, she would call the apartment to say she would be late, but her day had been lousy, and she was weary and tired. To add insult to injury, it was raining cats and dogs and she didn’t have her umbrella. She decided to uber home and as she was stepping off the curb to get in the car, her cell phone fell out of her backpack and dropped into the rain-filled gutter. She picked it up and cursed when she saw that the screen didn’t light up. Great! Now the stupid phone was not working. When the car dropped her off, Shelly decided she would go straight into the building and not worry about walking around to the side entrance as the detectives had suggested because it was raining so hard. As she entered the building, it seemed very quiet. She heard nothing and detected no movement. She walked up the first few steps and thought that the hallway seemed unusually dim. “Maybe it’s gloomy from the rain or a blub blew out,” she thought. Reaching the second floor she went to the apartment door and put her key in the door, before she could turn the key, someone put a hand over her mouth and pulled her into the elevator. Shelly tried to fight the attacker off, but he overpowered her. The attacker dragged her down the stairs to the side entrance and threw her into the back of a van parked on the side of the building and then got in and locked the doors.

  Shelly was scared to death and cowered on the side of the van. With a trembling voice she murmured, “Please don’t hurt me. My money is in my backpack in a small purse.”

  The attacker said nothing and drove the van to the lowest level of the building’s garage into a corner where the light had been extinguished.

  When he opened the door Shelly screamed, “Take my wallet the credit cards they’re in the side pocket and don’t hurt me.”

  The man’s face was covered by a nylon stocking and he said, in a thick mean voice filled with anger, “I don’t want your money, and you’re not really the one I want,” he growled, getting close to her face, her eyelashes almost touching his face, “I need you to give her a message. If she doesn’t meet me and give me what I want, then I’ll be very pissed off and will have to have sex by proxy.

  “S, S, Sex by proxy?” Shelly stammered.

  “That means,” he snarled, “I will find you and have sex with you and then your other roommate, if Betty doesn’t agree to see me.” He slapped her across the face twice, “Did you hear me bitch?” he barked like a mad dog. Shelly was too scared to talk. She shook her head to agree. The man opened the van door and viciously threw the contents of her backpack and purse out. He pushed her out of the van, got in the driver’s seat and spun out of the garage squealing the tires, in a burst of speed.

  [ Chapter 1 ]

  Shelly sat on the garage floor dazed, panicked and almost trancelike, she didn’t know how long she had been there. Knowing she could not stay there, she picked up her purse. Her hands were shaking badly, getting to her knees, she grabbed a few things that were close to her, not really caring about them and threw them into her bag. She was freaked out and wanted to, had to, get to safety behind a locked door. Shelly half stumbled, ran up the stairs as fast as she could crying and began screaming and banging on the apartment door. She beat on the door for what seemed hours, shrieking and crying for Amelia and Betty. As soon as they opened the apartment door Shelly fell into their arms. Betty and Amelia helped Shelly up and dragged her over to the sofa.

  “Shelly, Shelly, what happened are you alright, are you hurt?” They almost said in unison.

  Stammering almost incoherently Shelly burst out, “The guy, who has been stalking Betty, attacked me.” He was waiting when I got home.”

  Over the next few minutes, between sobs, Shelly blurred out in shotgun sentences what happened. “Here’s the worst thing about it,” Shelly said, and she repeated what the attacker threatened ending with, “sex by proxy.”

  Betty inhaled sharply and then burst into tears, “I can’t let him do this to both of you because of me. I must do something. I have been racking my brain and I think I know who it is.”

  “Who?” Shelly and Amelia asked in astonishment at the same time.

  “I think its Luke,” Betty declared, “He was so angry with me, when I wouldn’t have sex with him. He told me I egged him on, and I was nothing but a teasing slut. I’m going to stop all of this being scared stuff and meet Luke and tell him to let all of us alone or I will tell the police who he is.”

  “Betty, no, it’s too dangerous to go and meet him, he might hurt you,” said Amelia, “it’s definitely not a good idea.”

  Betty thought about this for a minute and said, “Then I’m going to ask my father to get me a gun,” Betty replied, “and if he comes near one of us, I will blow him away. I can’t go on like this much longer, my nerves are shot, I have bitten my fingernails to the quick, and I know the both of you have been on edge. If only I could confide in Darrell, it’s that I know his beliefs are so strong and I’m certain he will think I was screwing this guy.”

  “You mean Darrell doesn’t trust you,” sniffed S
helly.

  “I never lied when Darrell asked me if I had sex before I met him, I said yes. He seemed OK with that as long as I didn’t do it anymore. I agreed, but with all this happening he may be suspicious and think I really was making out with this guy.”

  “Betty,” in a horrified voice Amelia said, “you mean Darrell wouldn’t believe you at your word? You and Darrell should trust one another if you’re going to get married, no matter what. I feel as if we need to call that Detective Garber. I think that’s what his name was; he can probably help us or at least give us some more ideas of how to protect each other. He said we could call him anytime.”

  “That’s a good idea,” Shelly agreed in a shaky voice, “I phoned him about that creepy phone call, and he responded quickly and said I should never hesitate to call him if there was a problem, so let’s call. I left his card on the little table in the hall.”

  When he answered, Detective Garber gave them instructions about staying in the apartment and keeping the door locked until he and his partner could get there. They came about 45 minutes later. Garber apologized for taking so long to get there, saying that they were investigating a case across town. They re-introduced themselves and began asking questions about the incident.

  Detective Garber spoke quietly and with patience when he questioned Shelly, she was still nervous and at times paused, put her hands over her face and wept. After Shelly finished telling what happened, he asked her if she were hurt in any way and wanted to be check by a doctor.

  “No,” said Shelly, “he slapped me hard and I might have some bruising, but I don’t think anything is broken. It just scared me to death.”

  “Please,” he said call me Wilson and this is Joe, “I know that this thing is very upsetting. I hate to say this, in a way that’s good because it will make you more cautious and remind you how serious this may become.”

  “What did the guy look like?” Asked Wilson.

  “He was dressed all in black and had a nylon stocking over his face and sunglasses,” croaked Shelly.

  “That sounds like what the usual creeps wear,” Wilson answered.

  “Do you feel up to coming down to the basement with us, to show us exactly where the assault took place? We want to see if there were any clues or maybe some tire marks since you said he sped away.”

  Shelly was much calmer now and felt safe with Wilson and Joe. Shelly went to the garage with the detectives and was able to show them exactly where the van was parked. In fact, some of her belongings were still scattered around the area. Wilson went back to the apartment with the other girls, while his partner and the uniform police who were now on the scene, searched the garage. Wilson asked a few more questions, but Shelly was unable to tell him anymore than she had already. Joe came back up to the apartment and told them they had not really found any evidence to go on.

  As they were leaving Wilson said to Shelly, “Don’t be so down in the mouth, we’ll catch this guy, I promise.”

  “Thank you so much for your help,” said Shelly, “I feel much better now. I will call you if I remember anything else.”

  “Please do,” he said, and they left.

  Shelly was glad that she called Wilson. He sounded concerned when he talked to Shelly that first time and told her he would try and help them. They needed that reassurance and he seems so sincere when he told her to call him anytime of the day or night and tonight and they had responded as quickly as they could.

  Betty purposely held back her suspicion about Luke and didn’t mention it to either Wilson or Joe.

  Later that evening Amelia and Shelly we rehashing the incident and Amelia said, “Shelly I know how upsetting this evening’s incident was to you, but my gut tells me that we need to convince Betty to call the detectives back and tell them what she suspects. I don’t think she said anything to them about Luke. Let’s talk to her about it again.”

  “OK let’s go get her.”

  They found Betty in the kitchen fixing a drink. “Hey Betty, what are you up too?” Amelia asked.

  “I thought I would fix a drink and calm my nerves,” Betty replied, “It’s so scary.”

  The three sat at the kitchen table. “We don’t want to sound like a broken record,” Shelly said, “I know you’re scared too.”

  “We think you need to call the detectives back and tell them about Luke,” Amelia said to Betty.

  “Yeah Betty, you need to make the call and inform the detectives,” chimed in Shelly. “I was really scared tonight, and I don’t want the detectives to think we are holding anything back on them.”

  “You’re right I’m petrified,” retorted Betty. You are my best friends and I feel so badly about all of this, but let’s look at the other side of the coin, what if tell them about Luke and the police question him and he’s not guilty and gets upset with us,” reasoned Betty, “then we might have two problems instead of one.”

  Amelia said, “Yes, but what if it is him and he hurts one of us and we could have stopped him by telling the cops about his anger?”

  “OK, OK,” said Betty, “I’ll call Wilson & Joe back.” Although Betty agreed to call in the heat of the moment, she never did.

  Secret thoughts: (I’m so worried about Shelly, she is physically ok but so scared. I hope Betty keeps her promise to tell the detectives about Luke.)

  [ Chapter 2 ]

  Living with three brothers was a challenge for Amelia Stillwater, a pretty, young girl being raised on a farm. Amelia was a fun loving, carefree budding teenager, but she also wanted to be an equal to the boys and do the same things her brothers did. Not to say that she wasn’t interested in girly things too, she liked dressing up and experimenting with makeup as much as other girls, but she wanted so much to please her father. It was a confusing time for Amelia. Her mom often scolded her about spending so much time with her brothers and her dad. She wanted her to be more feminine and delicate.

  “Don’t you want to dress up and look pretty and paint your nails Amelia,” asked Lynn, “and you should do something with your hair it’s long and tangled and looks like a shaggy dog.”

  “Yes, mom I like dressing up and looking nice, except when I work with daddy and the boys, we get messy,” Amelia replied.

  “You should be out having fun, not working with the boys all the time,” Lynn remarked.

  “I do have fun when I’m with them. They treat me like I’m one of them.”

  “You should let me show you how to look pretty and get men to do things for you instead of working so hard yourself, you’ll get old before your time if you don’t,” Lynn warned.

  Secret thoughts: (I don’t know what to do, I have a choice to make; I could accept the fact that I couldn’t live up to the challenge and do what the boys do to make her father proud; or I could try and please my mother by dressing up and smelling good and not getting my hands dirty. This is going to be a tough decision.)

  As Amelia finished up the evening dishes, she heard Roger calling for her, “Come on Amelia we need you to come with us, were going to go move some livestock around so we can get an early start tomorrow.”

  Forgetting her thoughts, Amelia threw down the dish towel and grabbed her jacket and yelled to Lynn, “Mom, I’m going with dad and the boys to move some of the animals around, I’ll be back later,” she called out as she ran after the truck.

  The next day when they were out in the barn Lynn called to Amelia to come in and help her make supper. When Amelia came in her mom said, “my God Amelia you’re covered with dirt, what have you been doing?”

  “One of the calves got stuck in the mud and we had to pull her out, “Amelia confessed.

  “You’re impossible, Amelia, you are such a tomboy, go get showered and then get right back here to help me finish cooking supper, we have to hurry because I’m going out tonight,” Lynn ordered.

  When supper was over Lynn instructed Am
elia to clean up the kitchen. Amelia just finished the evening chores when Roger dashed into the kitchen and said, “Hurry up Amelia, if you want to go with us, we’re going pickin crickets and worms for bait, cuz we goin fishing tomorrow after work.”

  “I’ll put on my boots and be right there,” called Amelia.

  “Hurry up I’ll make Matt wait for you,” Roger yelled back at her.

  The boys, except for the fact they are brothers have very different dispositions. Jerry the eldest brother is tall and lanky. He wears his dark hair long and shaggy which drives his father crazy. He is average looking and not too ambitious and tries his best to duck out of work anytime he can. Jerry is definitely bossy, and often reminds the others he is the oldest which somehow gives him the authority to be overbearing. It doesn’t really matter though because none of the siblings pay any attention to Jerry and his dictatorial orders.

  Roger, the second eldest son, is a brawny fellow, built physically powerful, his sandy hair and ruddy complexion made him look sturdy and strong. Their dad often said Roger was built like a fireplug, squat and powerful. His easygoing manner and let’s get the job done attitude is solidly in place.

  Matt is the youngest boy and the quietest one, never says much unless he is really very happy or sad about something. His good looks have girls chasing him all over the place, but he’s very shy. He is really liked by everybody because of his willingness to help anybody who needs a hand.

  One day when Jerry was being particularly hateful, Roger and Matt decided to get even with him, by putting a black snake in the cab of his pickup. When Jerry went to get in the truck and saw the snake, he let out a blood-curdling scream, got a stick, and tried to kill the snake. Roger and Matt were hiding and watched to see Jerry’s reaction, they ran over and pulled the stick out of Jerry’s hand, stopping him before he could harm the snake. Jerry asked them how they got there so quick and then suddenly realized they were watching his reaction and must have put the snake in his truck.

  Jerry looked at Roger and said, “I bet you put that snake in my truck to see what I would do, without any warning Jerry threw a punch at Roger. The fists began to fly and although Jerry is two years older, Roger beat him hands down as usual.