Always Yours (A Josh Cuthbert Fan Fiction)

Chapter 9

I started the engine and pulled out of the car park of the police station, heading towards town.

"I think we should start by going back to the pizza takeaway place. Could ask the workers in there if they were working the other night and saw anything" I suggested, turning round slightly in my chair to look at George and Lucy for confirmation.

"I think that's the best place to start" George smiled whilst Lucy nodded in agreement.

I managed to remember the way towards the centre of town and before I knew it I was pulling up outside the shop, the place feeling uncomfortably familiar.

"You ok?" Lucy asked, leaning forward in her seat to ask me.

I nodded and smiled briefly at her before unlocking the doors and stepping out, turning to wait for the both of them to join me. It was still the middle of the afternoon and there wasn't many people around. The nightclub was unsurprisingly shut and there were just a few tourists and locals milling around the shops.

"Come on then" I sighed, walking up to the pizza shops doors and pushing them open.

A man who looked to be in his early 20's was stood behind the counter and he looked up at us as we entered, his mouth dropping open when his eyes landed on me. I stopped in confusion and George cleared his throat, raising his eyebrow at the man.

"Sorry, umm, are you the girl from the other night?" he asked hesitantly, looking at me as he spoke.

Oh.

"Yeh, I am" I smiled weakly, walking over to him.

"Thank goodness you are ok, I saw you outside with the other guy and I rang the police when that gang bothered you" he spoke quickly, running his hand through his hair as he spoke.

"Oh, well thank you" I giggled, not really knowing what else to say.

"Do you want some pizza then?" He asked us after a moments silence, looking between the three of us.

"No, actually we need to ask you a few questions" George spoke up, "do you have a minute?"

"Sure, give me one second" he smiled, walking out the back and returning almost instantly without his apron.

He walked out from behind the counter, telling us his name was Ben, and led us over to a small table by the window of the shop. We all took our seats and George explained to him what happened the night, telling him about Josh and that we were looking for him.

After a few moments of silence Ben looked up at us with confusion on his face, "you would have thought the police would have started here if they wanted witnesses. No one apart from you has spoke to me about this"

I looked up at George and Lucy and they looked at me worriedly, "that doesn't make any sense" Lucy said quietly, shaking her head.

"Ok, well is there anything you can tell us about that night. Did you see where the gang went, what car they went into?" George questioned.

"Well when the police arrived, and the shot went off, there was just chaos and I didn't see anything apart from people running around outside. But we have a car park around the back that both our shop and the nightclub share. There is a security camera placed at the exit and so we would be able to see all the cars that left here that night" Ben answered, his eyes lighting up.

"Can we see the recording from that night?" I asked, looking at him pleadingly.

"Yeh, my dad owns this place so I'm allowed anywhere in the building, come with me. If anyone asks, you guys are my friends that I am having round" he told us, standing up from the table and leading us through a door at the back of the room.

We headed up a flight of stairs and through a small room off of a corridor. There were stacks of files on the walls and a computer in the corner, which Ben walked up to and sat in front of.

He clicked around and finally opened up the webcam's page, "Do you have any idea what time it was when it happened?" he asked, turning round to look at me.

"Well, we were coming for dinner and so it must have been around 6pm I guess" I stated, thinking back to that night.

"Ok" he replied, putting in the time and watching as the recordings played. We all stared intently at the screen and for most of the time just the occasional cars entered and exited the car park. I was beginning to grow impatient when all of a sudden lots of cars sped out of the car park.

Ben quickly stopped the film and rewound it back to the beginning of the stream of cars, taking screenshots of every single one that made its way out of the car park until there were no more.

We watched as he pasted the pictures onto a word document and pressed print, staring at the printer intently as it began to eject the images of the cars.

When it was finished Ben walked over and picked up the small pile of papers, handing them to me with a smile, "Dad paying for a high quality camera paid off"

I looked at him in confusion and followed his gaze down to the pictures, you could clearly make out the number plates of the vehicles.

"Thank you so much" I smiled, finally feeling hopeful and glad we had a place to start.

"Thanks buddy" George grinned, beginning to head out of the room.

"No problem, good luck" Ben smiled, waving us goodbye as we left the room and made our way out of the building and back to the car.

We jumped inside and I locked the doors, handing the papers over to George as I started the engine.

"Well that went better than I thought it would" I said as I turned round to look at Lucy and George.

"Something's not right about all of this though" Lucy sighed, running her hand through her hair.

Me and George turned to look at her, urging her to explain.

"Well, why haven't the police come here to ask questions. Surely this would be the first place they would look. We have got some really important information now, and it didn't even take that much trouble. Why haven't they done this yet, if they said they are investigating this disappearance?"

I had been trying to ignore this question in my mind, but now that Lucy had brought it up I couldn't agree more.

Josh's POV:

I sat with my back against the wall, staring up at the skylight, watching and counting the clouds float past.

There was nothing else to do here.

I had no idea how long I had been doing this until I heard faint footsteps out of the door, that grew louder the more I waited.

They sounded like they stopped just outside the door so I quickly stood up, the sudden rush of blood making me feel dizzy. I hadn't had any food in ages which wasn't helping either.

I watched in anticipation as the handle on the door slowly moved and the door opened to reveal a chubby middle aged man with a tray of food in his hand.

He looked at me cautiously, his eyes narrowing as he placed the tray on the ground, "the boss doesn't want you dead so you better eat this" he said harshly, closing the door as he exited the room before I could reply or ask any questions.

I walked over to the tray and saw a glass of water and a plate filled with chicken, potato and a banana. Yuck.

But I was starving so I devoured the food quickly, sipping the water in between eating. I wanted the water to last so I made sure I had half of the glass left by the end of my meal.

I sat back against the wall and thought back to what the man had said. Who was the 'boss', and what did he want with me?