Part 55

Part 55
Adrian had yelled at Juniper all the way back to the campground. “I should just shoot you!” Her eyes were wide with fear.

“How was I supposed to know that she would just leave?” Juniper tried to reason with him. He was beyond angry and for the first time in a long while she was afraid for her life.

“What did you say to her?” Adrian’s voice was calm now and that frightened her more than his shouting. “Tell me everything exactly like it happened.” There was a warning in his voice.

“I congratulated her on her wedding and asked her if she was happy.”

“Something must have happened for her to leave so quickly,” Adrian argued.

“I gave her a necklace that used to belong to her mother. Maybe she was emotional over that and decided to leave.” Juniper kept her voice even to cover her tracks of deceit.

Despite her sins of the past, she didn’t feel right letting Adara walk into Adrian’s trap. She had a lot to atone for and this might be the first step in the right direction if she was ever going to get Adara to forgive her.

“Maybe ….” Adrian replied.

He didn’t have a backup plan. He was so sure that he would be driving to the deserted warehouse with Adara by now. He was certain that he had the perfect plan and location for what he wanted to do.

“She did say that she couldn’t stay long, she was expecting Kiran home from daycare.” Juniper had no idea why she said that to Adrian, but she would regret saying that last sentence for the rest of her life.

“Daycare, huh.” Adrian started thinking of a new plan and smiled as Juniper looked at him and shivered at the gleam in his eyes.

Adrian and Juniper stayed hidden for a week. They moved to a new campsite after two days. Adrian was being proactive, as he put it. He cruised the streets and saw Kiran’s Jeep at the third daycare he passed.

He slowed down as he saw Kiran with a little boy walking hand in hand toward the school. He wondered who the little boy was, he couldn’t possibly be Kiran’s. He smiled as he dialed JJ’s number from memory.

“What do you need?” JJ had gotten used to Adrian’s calls over the last few months and even though he intensely disliked Adrian, at least he got paid.

“I need information. Everything you can get on Kiran Sinclair.” Adrian didn’t wait for a reply before ending the call with JJ. They weren’t friends, so no niceties were necessary. He sat back and smiled. Soon he would know who the little boy was.

He kept Juniper locked in the room when he needed privacy. That was usually when he spoke to JJ over the phone. He hoped that JJ would get back to him sooner rather than later. He would need a foolproof plan, go through every possible scenario.

He wouldn’t be caught off guard again by anyone in their wolf form. He went online and ordered Aconitum seeds. Ingesting the plant raw would be better although the seeds themselves were poisonous. He would have to wait a few days for them to arrive and he used that time to watch the daycare.

Kiran dropped the little boy off every morning between 7:30 and 7:45. He would walk with him up the steps and into the school. He wouldn’t be able to grab him then. Kiran had filled out since the last time Adrian had seen him. He looked like a man now.

Kiran arrived at ten-to-two, every afternoon and the child was never alone. Kiran would carry him to the car and strap him inside. From there, Adrian assumed they went home. He didn’t follow Kiran home. That would be too obvious; few cars drove up that way.

Two weeks after the restaurant scene, Adrian went to the warehouse he had found a while back. He started his preparations so they would be able to stay there for a while. He bought camping gear and cots. He couldn’t go back to his house, for fear the Sinclair’s were watching it.

Two days later, Adrian received his notification that his parcel was at the post office. He had used Juniper’s name and he waited for her in the truck as she went inside and came back with a small package.

“What is it?” Juniper looked at the plain little box in her hands.

“Aconitum.” Adrian smiled sadistically at her, giving her an eerie feeling of impending doom.

“What’s Aconitum?” She was sorry she had asked, as he kept that smile on his face.

“Wolfsbane … ah, now there’s a word you do know.” Juniper’s eyes grew wide with shock and fear.

He drove back to the campsite and handcuffed her to a chair. He knew she’d run the moment she got the chance. Adrian just wasn’t sure if she’d warn the Sinclair’s about his plans or not, but he wasn’t going to risk it.

He needed some time to complete his tasks, preferably in silence. He was at the warehouse when JJ phoned him and he made notes as he spoke. He had already acquired most of what he would need.

“The child is Christian Jeffreys, he’s four. His parents died in the explosion at that warehouse up in the mountains. Phillip and Mary Jeffreys, he was their only child. He lived with the Black family first, but then he was moved to Malachi Sinclair’s home. He’s been living there with them ever since. There are no adoption papers, just a court ruling from Judge Gardner, granting them temporary custody. Malachi Sinclair is the foster father on the documents.”

“And?”

“Kiran is enrolled at the University of Alaska…Business Management…it seems he’s studying online. First year is already completed and he’s started his second year.” JJ continued to read from the file of information he had managed to gather.

“What about the girl?” Adrian was impatient, he wanted them all dead. It all hinged on his success to grab the boy.

“Adara isn’t enrolled anywhere. Can’t find much on her. It looks like she just stays at home. Why do you need all this information on one family?”

Adrian didn’t answer the obvious question, he didn’t need to know. “Thanks, JJ. I’ll transfer the rest of your money.” Adrian ended the call.