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    Chapter 15

    tab Sarah and I had a stare down for a couple seconds. We didn't say anything. I tried to take everything in that she told me in the last three minutes. It was difficult. And that was an understatement.
    tab "Um..." Sarah said a little tentatively, breaking the short string of silence. Her smile started to fade away. Immediately, my mind snapped to reality. "Can I go on now?" I opened my mouth in an attempt to make an audible answer, "Yes", but I found all I could do was nod my head slowly.
    tab "The case to years ago hit us hard," she said, making a short, repeated pacing motion across the floor. Over and over again. "We started to lose faith in ourselves. And at that moment, we all had the same feeling boiling in our souls. Revenge. We all wanted revenge."
    tab "Just a second," I said, I interrupted after regaining my composure. Again. "What are we talking about? 'We'? I know it was some gang, but I'd like you to be a little bit thorough." Sarah stopped pacing. She glanced at me, but quickly glanced back away. Though in that one second our eyes met, I saw what was in them. Fear. Anger. Frustration. Guilt. Weariness. This was a hard subject for her. I could understand why she didn't want to talk about it. I really didn't want to push for it.
    tab But I didn't have a choice. I had to.
    tab "Please, Sarah," I pleaded. "I have to know."
    tab "They were--they were..." She stopped for a second, searching for words. "Vicious. Ruthless. They had no moral, no conscious. It was only greed."
    tab "How many were in this gang?"
    tab "Including me? Three."
    tab "Three?" I was stunned. I was kind of expecting, like, a dozen or something. Three didn't really make up a gang.
    tab "As I told you before, this was a runaway gang. Most of the members were already in jail for capital offense." She paused, and then said, "So I guess I lied. Two years ago wasn't the first time we were caught. But that last case had gone to far for us. We wanted revenge."
    tab "Who were the members in your group?" She looked at me, grimancing,
    tab "Charles Miller and Kyle Hill."
    tab So it was true. Charles was part of a gang. And not just any gang. This gang was related to the death of my wife.
    tab "So Charles did murder my wife," I seethed through gritted teeth. I was mad. Angry at Charles for lying to me. Angry at him for betraying me.
    tab "I don't know" was her calm answer. Too calm for me. I was on a rampage now.
    tab "What do you mean you don't know?!" I exclaimed. "You were there! You knew what they planned! You were part of the ga-"
    tab "No, I wasn't," she said softly. I lowered my voice as I asked, stunned,
    tab "What?"
    tab "I wasn't part of the gang. Not officially. Not after what happened two years ago."
    tab "What happened?" Sarah started pacing again. The memory wheels were rolling.
    tab "The case. We lost. Atleast, one of us did. Kyle Hill was sent to jail after a short trial."
    tab "I remember..." I said glumly. The flashback came into my head.
    tab I had just testified a solid testimony. Kyle was being dragged off, and I remember what he said.
    tab "I didn't do it! That detective is a half-wit! You can't honestly believe what he--"The sound of his voice was abruptly cut off by the slam of the double doors. He had spoken as if he really meant it, and I felt a surge of guilt. Had I just condemned an innocent person?
    tab "But...he spoke with such conviction when he said it wasn't him," I said after my quick flashback. "So, he did do it?" Sarah nodded.
    tab "You should not believe criminals so easily. The last place a criminal wants to go to is jail, not just because it's an awful place, but also because it's a dishonor. Being caught, atleast with our gang, was considered the worst demotion ever."
    tab "Charles didn't believe it was Kyle's fault for getting caught, though. He believed I had somehow left a trail of too much evidence on Kyle, and I was banned from further knowledge of any plans of the gang."
    tab "But you weren't banished from the gang itself?" Sarah shook her head.
    tab "No. He still needed me as ransom. Also, if he let me go, then the media would come in and ask where I had been for the past 13 years. Then the secret would be out. He also couldn't kill me. Again, he needed me as ransom, and once my family knew I was dead, there was no stopping them from telling the media about the gang."
    tab "Why didn't you ecscape?" She smiled at me.
    tab "That was a dumb question. I'm here now, right?" Oh. Right.
    tab "But it was harder said than done. Charles always had me on tight surevelience."
    tab "But how? Wasn't he busy doing...criminal things?" Sarah shook her head.
    tab "No. The gang was gone. He no longer had any wish to plunder. So for a year, we were both crammed together in a car doing road trips. After about a year, he scrapes up enough money to buy a house, both from his money in crime and for odd jobs he did. A very small house. Very."
    tab "I guess that makes sense," I said. "We have been friends for two years, but not once until last year had he asked me to come over."
    tab "Yeah, I guess that does make--Wait, how long have you known Charles?"
    tab "Two years."
    tab "So it must've been you he was visiting." I shrugged.
    tab "Probably." Suddenly, I realized something.
    tab "Wait, he visited me...So he didn't have survelience on you at those times."
    tab "I was drugged." She didn't say anymore for a couple seconds, and then went on glumly,
    tab "Every time he went off somewhere, I was forced to go to sleep. I was his pet for those two years."
    tab "I--I see. I'm sorry."
    tab "Kyle was only sentenced to two years. Charles went to pick him up, but he made one very large mistake. He hadn't drugged me enough. I escaped." She fell silent, and then held up her right hand.
    tab It was the hand with the bandage.
    tab "There's one other thing," she whispered, almost so quiet I couldn't here. But I did. And I was about to be completely shocked. "I was there. I saw your wife murdered."
    tab I think "completely shocked" was an understatement.