Taken | h.s + bey ✔️

37. The Swamps

"HARRY!" Glen abruptly shouted, causing Diana to belt out a scream and nearly lose control of the steering wheel.

She caught her breath and looked at him, "What?!" She shouted angrily.

"That's his name! I just remembered it."

"Whose?!"

"The kid Rose took care of."

"Oh," she exhaled in relief, "What the fuck, you almost made me crash."

"Sorry," he said passively.

"Well... it's good you remembered in time," she said, keeping her eyes on the road.

They were driving to the part of town that was on the map. The swamps.

"What are we about to do, again?" Glen asked as he looked out the window.

"We're gonna drive around. We need to find out if anybody knows who Harry is and where he lives. I'm sure if this is a small area then everybody knows everybody. How familiar are you with this area?"

"Not very familiar. Only ever came to this part to meet Rose. That was over a decade ago."

Diana sighed and tapped her fingers on the steering wheel.

"If someone does tell us where he lives... what do you plan on doing?" Glen asked, afraid that she'd say they were just gonna drive to this man's house and demand he give Kim back. No police help. No weapons for defense. Just them against a serial killer.

"Then I'm gonna go to his home,"

"And do what?!" Glen looked terrified and appalled.

"Imma beat his ass," she said with a straight face and Glen wasn't sure if she was joking or not.

"Where do you turn to get to the lake?" She asked.

"Uhhhh..... turn up here," he pointed, "to the left."

Diana made the turn and kept straight down a secluded road that eventually just turned into gravel. It was very narrow. So narrow that only one car could fit on the pathway.

Diana stopped when she reached a circular opening that led to the lake. The two of them stepped out of the car and walked a little ways to the lake.

"Man," Glen exhaled as he reminisced. He stared out into the water quietly.

"Why do you think she came out here? Why this place?" Diana looked around. She noticed that the lake was circular and completely surrounded by woods except for the little gravely part where they stood.

"I always figured she chose this place because it was secluded," Glen shrugged.

Diana stepped a little closer to the water with her hands on her hips. She squinted as she looked out at the water and noticed something on the opposite end.

"What's that?" She pointed and Glen stepped closer, "is that a deck?"

Glen squinted at it too, "Yeah, looks like it. Huh. I never noticed that before."

"Why's there a deck way over there? There's nothing but woods behind it. That's so weird," she mumbled.

"Yeah, it is. Can you see anything past the trees?"

"Nope, nothing at all."

They looked quietly for a second before Diana spoke, "well, let's go. Maybe to that park you were talking about and ask around. You drive," she instructed before they both got back into the car.

Glen and Diana drove around for an hour and a half looking for people to question. The area was extremely spaced out and any homes that were around were secluded and hidden within the huge trees so it was hard for them to even find many people to ask. They got nowhere.

"Wanna stop there?" Glen asked as they were on the way back to the city.

Diana looked out the window and spotted a middle aged white woman who had just come out to sit on her porch.

"Yes," Diana said and so Glen pulled into the front of their small home.

The woman curiously looked up when she noticed a car pulling up and two people getting out to approach her.

"Hello, ma'am. I was wondering if you could help me with something," Diana put on her 'nice voice.'

"With what?" The woman spoke with a rough, scratchy voice. It was heavily accented and definitely caught Diana off guard.

"I'm looking for a friend. He's not picking up his phone and I have no idea where he lives," she lied, "I've been driving around for an hour and I have no clue as to where any home is around here. Do you know of someone named Harry?"

The woman thought for a moment as she slowly stood up from her wooden chair. She folded her arms, "Harry?" a man came out the front door and confusedly looked at Diana and Glen, "hey, the Thibodeauxs had a boy named Harry. Remember baby?"

"Harry Thibodeaux?" Diana didn't mean to say out loud.

"Is that the friend you're looking for?"

"Yyyyyeah?" Diana unsurely answered.

"Baby, What ever happened to the Thibodeauxs?" She looked at him with a questioning look.

"Who knows," he said flatly and sat down.

The lady looked back at Diana, "I haven't heard that name in so long. And you're looking for him around here? I didn't even know they still lived in this area, wow."

"So you haven't seen him?" Diana asked in a disappointed tone.

"No, not in years," the woman puckered her lips and shook her head.

"Well, do you know where they live? Or lived?"

"Nobody did," the man spoke up. His rough, accented voice matched his wife's, "the Thibodeauxs were only ever seen out and about. They were social but stuck up pieces of shits. They didn't let nobody know where they lived. Unless you had a hefty tax bracket, you weren't worthy of knowing or coming. Now, I don't know about anybody else but I ain't seen them, that kid or that live-in servant woman of theirs in years," it was obvious he had a vendetta against them.

"Yeah... I'm so sorry, honey," the woman spoke kindly, "I wish I could help you find your friend but honestly, I don't think they live around here anymore."

Diana's shoulders dropped and she groaned, "ugh. Okay. Thank you anyways," she gave them a gentle smile before getting in the car. Glen followed.

As they drove back with nothing new but a last name, Diana sat back and stared out the window.

She knew it was unrealistic but she was hoping that on the way, she'd spot Kim.

Instead, she just saw swamps and trees. They passed an old looking gas station, a very old and abandoned looking shack in the trees with a dirt road that most likely led to it, another small home, an empty bait shop and a small (and most likely underrated) seafood place. After that, they were nearing the city.

Glen noticed Diana looked defeated and he felt bad.

"I'm sorry," he said and she looked at him.

"For what?"

"That we didn't get anywhere. Don't get discouraged, we will find her," he pressed his lips together.

Diana just hummed and gave him a weak smile. "We will," he said again.

"Okay."

"Alright, I'm gonna need you to tell me where to go."

"Oh— right," she sat up and gave him a couple of quick instructions.

"Now that we've got his and his family's last name, we can search them up. Maybe they have Facebook!" He said in a happier tone and Diana giggled.

"Yeah. We can do that."

I googled searched Harry Thibodeaux and so many popped up lmfao.

Cast, movie inspos and introduction to my next book, Student Bodies, has been posted!

I hope y'all had a great day. I sure did because I saw snow (IN TX) for the first time in my life. My week has just been superb.