ROSES HAVE THORNS-Chapter 56 - Clear Goals

"My husband was still out that night." Mrs. Cooper recalled as she looked into the campfire.

"He had to stay at work and overtime in order to make up for the time lost during our meeting at that diner and the visit to the hospital. I had just tucked my daughter in bed inside of her room on the second floor when I heard footsteps downstairs.

I thought it was my husband since it was so late but that was not the footsteps of one person. Then I thought that my husband must’ve brought over his colleagues for a drink but I remembered that I already warned him not to do that since the kids don’t like it.

I quickly grabbed anything I could find to use as a weapon and then took a peek over the railing. That’s when I saw them: three men wearing thick black robes and a hood covering their faces. The hood had this crude design of red eyes, which were crying out tears of blood that leaked all the way down to the ends of their robes.

This wasn’t a situation I could defend myself from. Maybe if I had my Dale with me, I could’ve somehow gotten away in time with my daughter and run to our neighbour to warn him about the intruders. My neighbour is a prefect, you see.

Sadly, that was not the case. I can still remember the fear I felt when a hand tapped on my shoulder. A fourth intruder had somehow sneaked up behind me and in his arms was my precious daughter who was still sleeping. Before I could so much as move or scream, the other three had already grabbed and dragged me downstairs all while letting out this hideous laugh.

It turned out that the fourth intruder was F-Father Tobias. He told me that if I had complied, none of this would’ve happened and our family could have walked away with plenty of money...

Before taking me away he told me that he was going to kill my son at the hospital... He also told his men to stay behind and wait for my husband to return so that they can kill him too. I-I was powerless to do anything... I-I’m *sob* I’m such a failure as a mother and a wife!"

Diana held her close and soothingly rubbed her back. The other four women also began to tear up when listening to her, as her situation heavily resonated with what had happened to them.

"Shh, it’s okay. You couldn’t have known that any of this was going to happen. There’s no sin nor shame in not knowing. Please don’t put yourself down like that."

After Diana calmed her down, Mrs. Cooper. told the rest of what happened.

"T-Thank you, Principal *sniff*. Once that... evil man was done speaking, he told two of his men to take me to the boat. They then knocked me out and when I awoke I not only found out that the night had passed but also that I was in the middle of a jungle being dragged away by those vile monsters.

They then took me into a cave with those five other monsters and threw me in that cage of women. I’m sure you could guess how the rest of the story went... I’m sorry, but I do not wish to go into that specific detail. And although I was only in that cave for what felt like a day and a half, I knew that if you had not come sooner, I would have been next..."

"Thank you for sharing Mrs. Cooper. I know it couldn’t have been easy. And just to check with you four, does Bishop Tobias also have something to do with why you’re here?"

They all nodded at Diana’s question.

"... H-He also wanted to take my child and when I refused he..."

"... Me too..."

"... Y-Yes..."

The last woman just kept staring at the fire in a daze while rocking back and forth.

"I see..." Diana said quietly. "Rosie, is there anything you’d like to ask them?"

"... Yes. But it’s something only these four women could answer. Is that alright?"

The woman staring into the fire flinched when she heard him speak and quickly ran to Mrs. Cooper’s side.

"I’m sorry Mr. Kurt but please understand that she is a victim to those... things, and your deep voice must’ve triggered her. We’ll go stand by the ocean while you ask them your questions."

Kurt nodded at her suggestion and together the two left.

"Alright then, first question. How long have you all been inside that cave?"

"I–I don’t know. There was no light source to indicate how long it had been and I’ve long since lost my sense of time while I was in there."

The other women also agreed with what she said.

’Dammit, if that’s the case then I’m guessing they won’t know how frequently more women were being brought in. And if they don’t know that then we won’t know when the next boat will be arriving...’

"Diana, could you also ask the same thing to her." He pointed to the woman who was now playing in the water. "If she does know then could you gradually ask her questions that could hint at when the next boat will arrive?"

"Sure." She got up from her seat and went to talk with her.

After about ten minutes she came back with a serious look on her face.

"And? What did she say?"

"Tonight is when the next boat will come." Diana crossed her arms and looked out at the sea.

"How does she know this?"

"She..." The grip on her arm was being tightened as she finished her sentence. "She’s been counting. Her arms... For every hour that has passed she would cut a little mark on her arm."

"She’d do what? And how long has she been here?"

"A little over two weeks. Her arms are in a horrendous state. The cuts it will leave permanent scars..."

"...." Kurt couldn’t say anything but feel bad when he looked over to her playing so innocently in the water.

"As for how I know they’ll be here tonight, it would seem that for every two days that go by, she would make a special circle around that mark. Apparently, it’s to indicate a new woman had entered the cave. Mrs. Coopers was the last one to be brought in two days ago, so if what was shown to me is true, then yes, another boat should be coming." 𝚏𝕣𝐞𝗲𝐰𝕖𝐛𝐧𝕠𝕧𝚎𝚕.𝐜𝚘𝗺

"Do you think Tobias will be on that boat?"

"No. He will be too busy preparing for the arrival of the Saintess."

"Lucky prick *tsk!*." He kicked the sand below him in frustration.

"I know what you’re thinking but," she leaned in close and held his hand, "isn’t this the perfect evidence needed for the prefects to arrest him? The bishop is a very important man who has a lot of people working under him. Innocent and guilty. We can’t just kill him."

"But what if he has connections in the bureau that could free him? Like you said, he’s an important man. My suggestion is we torture that lowlife for names and kill him right after."

"Then we warn the king himself. Maxwell Dorothy despises the cult more than anyone. There’s also another reason we can’t Tobias just yet."

"What’s that?"

"Did you forget already? It’s the whole reason why you went on this investigation with Dominik."

"... The missing kids..." Kurt realised.

"Exactly. What if you torture him and he gives you the names of his accomplices as well as the location of the kids, but they turn out to be all false. We need him alive to verify the information."

"... You’re right. Damn it, I’m not used to all this. Normally I get told ’Hey, go here and kill this person’ and its mission complete. I never had to think of the consequences since I was just a weapon. A means to an end. Now that I’m personally involved in all this, everything feels... complicated."

"Rosie..." She stood in front of him and caressed his cheek. "You know you could walk away from this if you want."

"... What are you talking about?"

"Think about how much you’ve already helped. If it wasn’t for you, then we wouldn’t have found these women. If it wasn’t for you, then Tristan and Rupee would’ve still been homeless and the shady dealings happening in that neighbourhood would’ve never been investigated. If it wasn’t for you, then Tobias would’ve never been on our radar until it would’ve been too late."

’Heh, it’s funny she’s saying this because I bet Emelie would’ve done something about all this... probably.’

"Rosie?"

"It’s nothing. You’re right, I could walk away from all this, but I won’t. I’m already in too deep and I’m not about to stop halfway."

"Wow~"

"Not like that, haha."

"I’m glad to see you got your head all cleared."

"Yeah. It’s just, thinking about what that sick bishop is doing has got me itching to just end him... But I’ll wait."

"That’s right. We got more than enough evidence to take him away. Now we just need to wait for that boat and get out of here."

"Mmhm. Actually, before that I want to go back to that monster camp and see if there are any valuables I could take. You cool with staying here?"

"More like I have to. Someone has to be here to keep them safe."

"Sweet. Oh and *smooch* Thanks for the small boost of confidence." He kissed her before running back into the jungle.

"Y-You’re welcome~"