Finding Maisie
Chapter 2
I awoke to the unfamiliar surroundings of the hotel room. It was 8 o'clock; another early start. I hadn't been able to have a good night's sleep in days due to the anniversary of Maisie's disappearance edging closer and so waking up early became a regular occurrence to me. Despite it being light outside, the thick hotel curtains blocked the sun out, leaving me feeling cold and dark inside. The only thing stopping me from feeling lonely was the sleeping Callum in the bed next to mine. Despite everything that had happened - with Maisie disappearing and the notes from the abductor - I was glad I had gotten closer to Callum. He was a friend I swore to myself I would never lose contact with.
I slipped out of my bed and walked towards the bathroom. I stopped. Something in the room didn't feel right. Something was different. It felt like something had changed in the room. It didn't feel like somebody was in the room at that moment, no, but like someone had been in there and moved items around. An invaded and insecure feeling came on me.
My suitcase, which I had left in the middle of the hotel rooms blue rug, was now leaning against the wardrobe. My jeans and hoodie that I had left in the middle of the floor were folded upon the coffee table. And most strangely of all, my phone was placed with the screen facing the glass in the coffee table. This was strange as I would never place the glass screen against the surface as I was worried of it getting scratched. I looked over to the peaceful Callum and wondered whether it was him who had moved my stuff. However, seeing as he went to bed before me and was a messy person, I doubted it. This meant that this abductor had a way to get into our room. He must have done last night whilst we were sleeping, that thought alone was enough to make my skin crawl. And the fact that the abductor purposely and subtly moved items around highlighted to me that this man wanted me to notice that he had been in here. Knowing the abductor wasn't scared to show me this scared me in itself.
I shook off the feeling, deciding not to dwell on the fact my belongings had magically moved in the night, and suddenly had an urge for breakfast. I quickly changed and grabbed my phone. Quietly closing the door, I left my hotel room and Callum and pressed the lift button down to the floor with the breakfast room. Before the lifts doors fully closed, an arm squeezed between them, forcing the lift to reopen again. A man walked in. immediately I went stiff from coming into contact with a strange man. Anybody I saw now could be the abductor. I examined the man standing next to me. He looked quite old and had a greying beard and hair, which was knotted and frizzy. His clothes were all black and looked quite dirty. They were also layered and he was wearing a thick coat despite being indoors, as if he was wearing every item of clothing he owned. His thick boots were muddy and looked worn out. I didn't mean to sound offensive but, judging by his appearance, this man didn't seem like he could afford to stay at a hotel. I watched cautiously as the man walked into the lift and something just didn't quite add up right. The stranger was sweating and twitching like he was nervous. No not nervous... he was scared.
We stood awkwardly in the lift as the woman's voice called "doors closing" and we were enclosed in this small space together. If this man was dangerous then there was now no way to escape. From the corner of my eye I kept noticing the man look at me and open his mouth only to close it again and turn away. The lift ringed and the doors began opening. Confused at the stranger next to me, I began walking to the doors eager to escape. In a flash the man pressed the close doors button and prevented me from walking any further.
He stared directly at me and I stared back at his frightened expression, feeling the same way he looked. Nervous and scared.
He tried to give me eye contact but it felt like he was reluctant to. He coughed in the tense atmosphere and opened his mouth.
'Are you Poppy Leads?' He questioned.
I didn't want to say yes. I wanted to be anyone other than Poppy Leads. Whatever he was going to do, I knew it wasn't going to be good. But I couldn't lie; I had never been able to. I could sense that that was something I was going to have to get over on this 'treasure hunt'.
'Yeah,' I muttered.
'I'm sorry I have to tell you this but he threatened me. He said he could have me killed and make it so noone would care. He told me to tell you that he'll be watching you. He said that if you fail he will find you. He said if you give up he will hunt you. He said if you cheat he will kill you. And he said times ticking, to hurry up and Maisie won't last much longer... If she's lasted this long anyway.'
The man stepped back and looked as if he regretted telling me that. He seemed friendly enough and like he didn't want to pass on a threat, even if he was being threatened himself. I didn't know 'the abductor' or what he was capable of but, judging by the strangers' expression in-front of me, he must be pretty terrifying.
'What did he look like?' I demanded.
The man looked anxious, 'He was wearing a hood and I - er - I can't tell you.'
He had to tell me. This man had seen and spoken to Maisies abductor and then told me that Maisie may not last much longer. He had to tell me.
'What did his hood look like then? Are you sure you didn't see his face? What clothes was he wearing? What did his voice sound like? Where did he talk to you?'
The man looked at a loss, 'I-I can't, I'm sorry.'
'PLEASE!' I yelled.
The stranger pressed the button to open the lift doors and sprinted out. I sighed and thought about what the man had told me. First of all, even though I had been pretty sure about this, the abductor was a man. I wasn't sure whether this was good or bad. I thought about why he made the frightened stranger pass on his threatening message. I was pretty sure it was to unnerve me, to make me feel vulnerable and more of an easy target. I couldn't let that happen. I wouldn't let that happen. I had to keep focused for Maisie and now Callum.
I walked out of the lift and down the hallway to get breakfast in the buffet. I walked under a wooden archway and straight towards the food. I was starving. I glared at the assortment of food before me, deciding what to pick. I made up my mind almost instantly and walked over to my favourite breakfast food in existence. Croissants. I could spot the crescent shaped pastry a mile off. With eager hands, I reached the food and picked up the first croissant in reach. I took out the biggest bite my mouth could manage but stopped when I noticed a white sheet of paper sticking up from the croissant basket. My heart skipped a beat. My shaking hand reached out and picked up the paper. My legs automatically took a step back when I saw it had my name on it. Another letter.
'Dear Poppy,
Once again I must say, you really are predictable. Choosing to eat the croissants without a seconds thought. I really do know you as well as I assumed I did.'
I breathed deeply before continuing. I couldn't let him phase me. He was trying to get me freaked out by saying he knew me so well. It was just a trick to get me weak and I couldn't let it work.
'Before we continue with this treasure hunt I will give you a piece of advice. It's better not to leave your phone unattended at night. Anyone can get information off of it.'
The letter stopped there. No more instructions or clues. And what did he mean by leaving my phone unattended? What did he get off my phone?
As if it read my mind, my phone vibrated in my pocket. I nervously picked it up. Something told me it wasn't going to be anything good, and I was right. It was a text message... from an unknown number. I opened it.
'BOO!'
My phone number. That's what he got from my phone and why he went in my room last night. I dropped my phone to the floor in shock. I wasn't safe in the hotel room. He had gotten in and would have been perfectly able to hurt me and Callum. But we couldn't leave unless the abductor told us to, I assumed.
A thought came to mind and I stopped breathing. The abductor sent me the text after I had finished reading the note. That must have meant that he was here watching me so he could send the message at the right time. I glared around the room before me and analysed each person. No-one looked out of the ordinary. There were just couples or families eating breakfast or the occasional single person reading a newspaper. But of course he wanted to look in the ordinary. My phone buzzed and I quickly grabbed it.
'Aren't you so adorable?!'
Underneath the message was one of the few pictures of Maisie I kept on my phone. It was a picture of a photograph I took. Maisie and I were in the park for lunch. She had her ginger hair in plaits and I had my brown hair in high bunches. We were smiling like we had no care in the world and all the time in the world. How wrong we were.
So the abductor had been through my pictures aswell. Was that the only picture he sent to his phone? Did he get anything else from my phone like other phone numbers?
I looked at the picture again and something didn't seem right. It was the picture I had on my phone but it looked different somehow. I couldn't quite put my finger on it.
My phone dinged again.
'Look at you. So scared and worried that I have been on your phone. I can see your face now. Don't worry, I thought it would be more convenient to text you rather than leave notes everywhere. They may be unnoticed but by texting you, I will be able to pop up at you when you least expect it.
Don't throw away your phone. Don't leave it at the hotel. Don't let it run out of battery. If you do any of those then this treasure hunt will end.
I will text you very soon.
Love,
The Abductor'.
I stared at the people in the room again. Noone was on their phone. I sighed, wanting to be near people I trusted, and so walked back to my hotel room. Knowing that I was in very close proximity to the abductor made me feel edgy.
Callum was up and dressed and looked a little worried. When I came in he sighed and his face wore a relieved expression.
'Where have you been?' He interrogated.
'Having breakfast...' I replied, like it was the most obvious thing in the world.
'And you couldn't tell me that?'
'Callum, why? I was going to the ground floor in the same building as you. Relax.'
'Maybe I would relax if there wasn't a kidnapper and potentially a killer after us. Poppy be more careful.'
I took a deep breath and walked to Callum. I handed him my phone which was open on the one-way conversation I was having with the abductor.
'What is it?'
'Just read it,' I commanded.
I watch Callum read through the texts, waiting for a reply, when the phone vibrated in his hands.
'It's from him,' Callum said, handing me back my phone.
I looked at the latest message.
'You really aren't that good of a treasure hunter are you. You're meant to be following the clues but I guess you weren't up to the task of the treasure hunt. Oh dear.'
What did he mean? The abductor hadn't given me any clues so how did he expect me to follow them.
'Think, Poppy,' Callum said after he read the text over my shoulder. 'What clues did he give you? What has he said to you today?'
I thought about the notes and texts the abductor had sent me. They only included things about croissants and why he got my phone number. And then of course there was the picture he got off my phone. The picture of Maisie and I. Maisie and I when we were younger... Maisie and I together... Maisie and I at Haveberry Park.
'I know where to go,' I said.
Callum and I arrived at Haveberry Park at around noon. It was cloudless and hot there and many families crowded the mown grass munching away at picnics. I was too nervous to have a picnic or eat any food at that matter. If this wasn't the place Callum and I were meant to go to then I had no idea where the first clue led us.
I looked around at the familiar and comforting surroundings of the park. Scattered around this place were memories of Maisie and I before she was abducted. Laughing, playing, living. How I wished I could relive those memories once more.
'What now?' Callum asked.
I shrugged at him, at a loss. But just before I suggested waiting, my phone vibrated. I slid it out my pockets and registered the fact that it was from an unknown number. He was watching us.
'Second bush on the left, west entrance,' was all the message said, but that was instruction enough.
I dragged Callum from the south entrance we were at and swerved us between picnicking families, westward. He asked me what I was doing but I didn't answer, too focused on getting to the bush in the least amount of time possible. We stopped at the west entrance, the entrance Maisie and I would usually enter on our trips here, and began looking in the bush. I ushered Callum to do the same and he scrambled down next to me. It didn't take me long to notice a box wrapped in brown paper and tied with a string. I pulled out the parcel with wary hands whilst Callum knelt down beside me. I untied the frayed white string and slowly unfolded the brown parcel paper. There was a white shoe box hidden underneath its wrapping. I took a quick pause to think about what was in there. Something that will hurt us if I open the lid? Something that will jump out at me? But surely the abductor was having too much fun leading me on this treasure hunt to hurt me. Maybe it was just a trick or a test.
I quickly whipped off the lid before my thoughts persuaded me against it and exhaled in relief. It contained tissue paper which was covering what looked like letters and photos. On top of the tissue paper was a letter which looked similar to the ones I had received before from the abductor. I picked it up and read it.
'Dear Poppy,
Here you go.
Look carefully at what is in this box as it may help you later on.
Oh, and I gave you a little treat. I thought it would be nice, seeing as you haven't seen her in ten years, to give you a reminder of what she looked like.
Watch your back.
Love,
The Abductor.'
So this is what it was going to be like. We would go from clue to clue leading us to places until we got to Maisie. That did make me feel a little relieved; going from place to place didn't sound too dangerous. Unless, however, the abductor had planned otherwise.
'The pictures,' Callum spoke up, crouching beside me. 'I want to see the pictures,' he demanded, sounding a little choked from holding back tears.
Callum tried not to be upset in front of me. He preferred to hide his feelings and save everyone else from seeing him upset. I had often told him it was okay to show people when he was upset and angry. After what Callum had been through, he at least deserved that. But he would always reply saying he didn't want other people's pity. However, whenever the topic of Maisie would come up Callums behaviour changed. His head would keep focus on the floor, his shoulders would droop and he would talk as if there was something stuck in his throat. Maisie's disappearance was the one subject Callum couldn't hide his emotions from.
'Okay,' I said.
I reached my hand for the tissue paper and pulled it away, revealing the mass of documents beneath it. I rummaged through the papers until I found a bunch of photos bound together with a rubber band. On the top of the pile was a small torn piece of paper reading 'June 4th, 2002. First evening with Maisie.'
I took a deep breath and tried to prepare myself for what I was about to see before I started looking at them. I ripped off the rubber band and dropped the pictures when I saw the one laying on top. It was Maisie. She was wearing her school uniform and had her hair in the same red bunchies that I had fashioned for her in our lunch break. She looked exactly as I remembered her... Except a sadder, more bruised version. I cringed as I saw just how puffy and red her cheeks and eyes were. That much transformation would have only been capable of from solid hours of intense crying. Maisie had bruises forming on her face and arms and her eyes looked as if they were looking at the camera from being forced to. Her face looked utterly terrified. These pictures were like a permanent reminder of her pain forever enclosed in an image. Even if we did recover Maisie alive and well, the memories of the past ten years will always be there to haunt her.
I hadn't thought about the likelihood of Maisie still being alive after all these years, but after looking at these photos, I found the chances pretty slim.
I put the photos down to explore the rest of the box. I picked up the first open envelope. Pulling out the letter inside, I read it. The names at the "to" and "from" had been cut out.
'We have obtained one subject and are currently on our way to the location.
Unfortunately, the other two have not been taken a hold of. One was missing and one had escaped.
I am not discouraged however, I have thought of a more cunning and destructive way to obtain them. I will get revenge, do not fret.'
I put the letter back in the envelope and placed it back in the box. I assumed the "subject" that the letter spoke of was Maisie as they had actually obtained her. Also I gathered that I was one of the other subjects that they hadn't gotten a hold of, the other I wasn't so sure of.
I pulled out the next letter in the box. This one was loose and had no envelope. Again, any name had been cut out.
'How dare you. The essence of my life has been torn from me. You've stripped me of what makes me happy and I cannot forgive you for that. Every day from now on you should fear the streets. You should fear every corner you turn and every door you open as there is every possibility that I will be waiting for you.
I am young. I am allowed to take risks and be carefree. Therefore you had no right to do what you did. I am the one who is in control of my life and you should have kept it that way, no matter who you thought was endangered.
The only way to make you feel the anguish that I now feel is through the things you both care most about. But I will make sure you never know what happens with your prized possessions. You will never know whether the belongings you care most about are still in existence as this will drive you crazy with hopeless longing and the unknown. Maybe then you will begin to understand the hatred I feel towards you.
Maybe I should thank you. You have given me a reason to seek revenge on you and hurt you in the best way possible. So in the end you both will be in more pain than I am; this will bode well for me.'
The last sentence struck out to me. "This will bode well for me." This sentence was almost identical to a sentence in my first letter from the abductor, "This bodes well for me." This meant that the abductor wrote this letter, to whom it was written to I didn't know. However, whoever it was who had taken something belonging to the abductor had gained an enemy. And from what I had experienced from the abductor, he seemed clever and cunning. The person or people who the letter was written to had something to worry about.
I wondered about what people's prized possessions were. I guessed something really expensive could be considered as prized. Or something with meaning like a trophy, a photo or a gift from someone important. Any of these could be considered as prized. So I was curious as to what the prized possessions in the letter referred to.
'Enough,' Callum said.
He was standing up next to me with the pictures of Maisie in his hand.
'This is wrong,' he said. 'This is sick.'
Callum threw the photos of the bruised and beaten Maisie to the ground. He rubbed his face with his hands and looked directly at me.
'I'm sorry Poppy, but I don't care what you say. I'm calling the police.'
'Callum, no!'
'Poppy whoever did this to Maisie did it in a couple of hours. It's been ten years. Every second that goes by Maisie could be inflicted in more pain, if she's still alive even. I'm fed up with this hunt for Maisie and it's only the beginning. I'm calling the police and this will all be over.'
Callum bent down to pick up his phone and I knew any attempts to stop him would be futile. As I was about to open my mouth I was distracted by a noise whooshing past my ear and a thump behind me. I quickly turned my head and saw a woman lying on the ground. There was a pool of blood pouring out from her back. Sounds of screams filled my ears and shouts of 'call 999'. It took me a second to register that she had been shot. I wanted to run over and help but as I tried to move Callum grabbed my arm and stopped me.
'Why?' I asked him, now feeling helpless.
'I don't want you seeing that.' And that was exactly what an older brother would feel like.
My phone buzzed.
'Whoops, missed. Oh well, better luck next time', it was from the abductor.
It was him. The abductor shot this innocent woman and most likely killed her. I couldn't see the woman properly from the crowd of people trying to help but I could see she wasn't moving. She was almost definitely dead.
Something the abductor had just said rang out to me. He said he had missed. Guilt immediately washed over me. The abductor was trying to shoot me but this innocent bystander got hit instead. However the more I thought about it the more I didn't believe it. The abductor was surely having too much fun playing with me on this treasure hunt to kill me. Besides from the direction the bullet had entered the woman, the killer wouldn't have been able to see me. The wall of the park was protecting me. So who had the abductor been trying to hit?
I looked at Callum and it hit me. He had been standing a few seconds ago when he was talking about calling the police. He only bent over to pick up his phone and that was when the woman was shot.
The abductor had been aiming for Callum.
I pushed Callum down so he was lying completely on the ground. The abductor might try again and I couldn't let that happen.
'What are you doing?' Callum questioned in shock.
My phone rang before I could answer.
'I would keep a close eye on Callum if I were you. I never miss twice.
Take that as a warning. No calling the police or it won't only be Maisie that suffers. Tell Callum that.'
I threw my phone to Callum who was still on the ground so he could read it.
'I told you Callum. No cheating! You were almost-'
I stopped talking and looked to the bushes. The abductor had heard Callum talking about police. That meant he was close by or had some way of hearing us. Seeing as Callum and I weren't talking very loud no-one would be able to hear us unless they were extremely close. Callum and I would have noticed someone in that close proximity with us let alone someone with a gun. So that meant he must be using some sort of technology to hear us.
I raided the bushes where I found the parcel, making sure to keep below the top of the wall. I stopped when my hands were clasped around something plastic and not a branch. I pulled it out and it was a walkie talkie. This was how he was listening to us. The button which allowed the other walkie talkie to hear us had been stuck down so the abductor could listen to every word of our conversation.
The walkie talkie looked cheap. I found this strange. The abductor had so far gone out of his way to scare me so why would he use something so cheap and limited. Looking at it again, the walkie talkie looked familiar. I realised then that this was one walkie talkie of a pair that Maisie and I liked to play with when we were younger. That was why he was using it. This device wouldn't have a long range so he had to be near us somewhere. I took this chance to try to make the abductor talk to me over the monitor and not by text so I could hear his voice. I pulled the walkie talkie to my mouth.
'Why are you doing this?'
I waited for a few seconds for a reply but it didn't sound like he was going to. Suddenly my phone, which was still in Callums hand, rang. I snatched my mobile from Callum and read the message.
'Because they need to pay.'
They. Who were they? And what did they do exactly that they needed to pay for?
My mind lit up with an idea of how to find the abductor. I turned up my phones volume and went into my alarm noises. I picked the one that I knew was the loudest and placed my speaker of my phone to the microphone of the walkie talkie. Pressing play I craned my ears trying to listen for the receiving end.
'Where's that coming from?' I asked Callum, hearing the sound of my alarm coming out from the other walkie talkie.
I looked over the wall and my attention was immediately drawn to a hooded man with something black and plastic in his hand, exactly like the walkie talkie I was holding. As I looked at him the man glared back at me and I got a strange feeling of de ja vu from the night I received my first note.
I took no time to hesitate but jumped over the small brick wall separating the park from the rest of the area and chased after the hooded man. He quickly turned on his heel and ran behind him through the streets of people.
I kept my legs running and searched through the crowds of people for a hooded head. With my eyes locked on the black fabric I moved forward with Callum at my heel, pushing people out of the way.
I waded through the grunts and groans of the crowd and followed the hooded man round a corner. It led into an alleyway. The hooded man was nowhere to be seen but the alley was too long for him to have run down it before I got there. I began to tiptoe forward and glanced behind me. Callum hadn't got here yet. He must have been caught up by the crowd. As I looked back over my shoulder and in-front of me something looked different. The rubbish bins which were placed randomly against the walls of the thin alley looked in a different arrangement. One of them had been moved slightly, like it had been pushed in the eagerness of someone moving from behind it. The abductor must have been behind the rubbish bin opposite to the one that had been moved. That bin was only about ten feet in-front of me.
Everything went quiet and the noise from the crowd behind me was blocked out from my ears. The sound of my heart racing was the only thing I managed to hear. The abductor - the person who had Maisie - was a mere few seconds away from me. This could be my chance to see the face of this person... Or it could be my chance to get injured.
I stepped forward and waited to see if the abductor would move. Nine steps. As there was no sign of movement I stepped forward again. Eight steps. I moved my feet forward. Seven steps. And again. Six steps. Five steps. Four steps. Three steps. Two steps.
'Poppy!' Callum called from behind me. 'What are you doing?'
I quickly turned my head to him, 'Shush.' I looked at Callums face and he looked shocked and scared. What was he staring at that made his face transform that way. I slowly turned back around and jumped a little when I saw the hooded man running away.
'No!' I said beginning to run after him. Callum stopped me.
'Don't be stupid Poppy. He's expecting you to go after him, in the dark abandoned alley. Think about what you're doing.'
'But he was so close...'
'I know.'
'He still has Maisie.'
'I know.'
'He just killed an innocent woman.'
'I know.'
This "abductor" may have gotten away this time but the days that he would walk free and not in prison were numbered. We had gotten one step closer to Maisie from going to this park and receiving the package and we were one step closer to finding out this abductors identity. Once I knew who he was and why he was doing this to me then there would be one thing that was certain.
'I'm going to get him.'
'I know.' Callum replied, putting his hand behind my back in order to push me out of the alley.
And with that we walked back past the park, past the woman and the sirens and back to our hotel room.