Anne was fuming with rage as she stomped her way through the campus courtyard towards the dorms. She was furious and agitated, driving 2 hours north in order to confront Zach.
He had missed their first ultrasound, and he had promised and swore he'd be there.
But after arriving, Anne had called him numerous times without him answering.
Her anger couldn't be settled and she was about to give Zach a piece of her mind again.
As she walked passed the courtyard, Tyler instantly noticed her. He stopped on his way to go visit home for the weekend, noticing Anne's furrowed brows.
He knew there was only one reason she would be here.
"HEY! Blondie!" He called out to her from across the courtyard but she didn't hear him and she didn't care she walked right past and continued her march.
So Tyler went after her, not caring if he was running late.
"Hey hey... why the face?" He stopped in front of her, but her eyes ignored him and she stepped aside.
"I don't have time to chat with you, move!" Her voice growled, quite frankly it amused Tyler.
Although she had the body of an athlete he was still much taller, wider and bigger than her; to him she was still a dainty little thing and for her to have so much anger slapped across her face it looked funny. He couldn't help but smile, but he prevented himself from giggling knowing it would upset her even more.
Instead he walked beside her back to the dorm room.
" he's not here,"
Anne ignored him and continued.
"Alright but I'm telling you he won't be there."
He could hear her growl like an angry bear, biting himself on the lower lip to prevent from laughing.
Her fist landed on the door, "OPEN UP!" She shouted.
Tyler sighed and pulled out his key to open it for her, she shoved him out the way and slammed open the door all the way.
"You asshole!" She yelled at the empty room, "you left me all alone in the cold office..." her voice began to quiver though.
"...everyone... was looking at me... and I... was so scared.." her face, instead of the anger it broke down into sobs.
Her eyes landed on his empty bed, all disorganized. She reached for it touching the sheets, they were cold. He's been long gone for a while now.
The picture frame of his sister was on the floor, a small crack on the glass front.
Tyler instantly felt sorry for Anne, "I told you he wasn't here, I wouldn't lie to you,"
Anne sunk on to his bed, curling up with a pillow she cried into it. His scent still lingered on the pillow case.
Tyler was hesitant to approach her, but at the same time it felt like a needle pinning his chest to see her sob into his roommates pillow like that. Her eyes were red from her tears but also her frustration.
So he sat at the edge of the bed and decided to try to calm her down.
"Anne..." his hand itched to lay on her shoulder, to provide some form of comfort for her. But instead it lay flat on the mattress.
"... he's an asshole..." she spat, "and it's all my fault."
Tyler couldn't stand it, he hated when women would blame themselves for the actions of men.
"Look he left without telling you, that's not your fault."
But Anne knew better than him.
She took a deep breath and sucked up her saddness, her cries. "D-did he say where?"
Tyler shook his head, "He got a call yesterday and he was upset because he couldn't leave. He was saying how he needed to leave but I guess the person on the phone was telling him to stay put. I woke up early morning and he's already packed and out the door without saying anything." He shrugged, watching as Anne struggled to understand.
"It's beyond you and me," He finished.
Anne wipes away her watery mascara. "Ugh.."
Her fingertips were covered in the black make up.
"Can I use the bathroom?... I'm a mess.."
Tyler nodded and she got up.
"Hey... why did you come all this way ? If you don't mind me asking?" Tyler frowned, eyeing her up and down.
She looked stunned that he would ask that and her cheeks grew pink, he couldn't tell if it was from her crying, her fury or embarrassment.
"It... it was something really important and... well .. I don't know. I was hoping he'd be here, asleep or something. But I guess not finding him here and not knowing where he is ... is a lot worse.." she tried to explain but confused Tyler even more.
He let it slide and she freshened up in the bathroom, when she came back Tyler was standing and leaning against the wall.
"You haven't taken my advice have you?"
Anne tilted her head at him, "what advice?"
"To let him go."
She felt a sense of impatience with him.
"There's nothing to 'let go'" she snapped and then turned to leave but his words stopped her.
"If that was true then you wouldn't have come."
Her back faced him, the anger was building up again in her veins.
"...this doesn't concern you,"
"Oh it doesn't? I mean you're in my room. So I guess it does concern me."
She gritted her teeth, not that he could see. "That has nothing to do with it,"
"Sure it does, you barging in here all the time yelling and shit." He began to sound annoyed with her, which just made Anne feel even more sick. "That definitely concerns me," out of instinct Tyler took a step towards her.
"Just forget it. It doesn't matter. I won't come back." But her feet were planted on the floor.
He took another step towards her, she could practically feel him right behind her.
"I don't think that's true... in fact I know you'll be back.." his voice was soft and so close.
Her shoulders began to shake, "there's no reason for me to ever come back. It's loud and clear I'm not wanted here."
She lifted her foot off the carpet and her hand wrapped around the doorknob. But as soon as it did, Tyler's large warm hand grabbed her wrist.
"I... wouldn't be too sure about that."
*****
"Christ...just what the hell are you doing here?" Victor groaned when he opened up his motel room to find Zach in the doorway. "I told you not to come," he said stepping aside and letting the boy in anyway.
Zach put down his backpack and sat on the edge of one of the twin beds. "I took off from school to be here. This is important, isn't it? It means...she's alive...doesn't it?" his eyes were wide open, searching Victor for as much truth as possible.
Victor looked down at him, half asleep and half angry that he showed up. But he knew how much Elizabeth meant to Zach, "According to the landlord, she saw both the priest and Elizabeth just a few short days ago. So yes...it appears so."
The words caused Zach to tremble, but his feelings were all over the place. Should he be angry that the son of bitch killed his sister and kidnapped his girlfriend? Or should he be grateful that she's still alive? In the end though, all he wanted was to either kill James himself, or at the very least capture him enough to face Justice. And justice for him, would mean the death penalty.
"So...where are they?"
Victor walked back to his bed and slumped in, "Get some sleep kid, we leave in 3 hours."
It was difficult for Zach to sleep though, his body was pulsing with adrenaline. He wanted to find her, to rush out grab a car and somehow track them down. He ran over scenarios in his head of what he would do to the priest if he were to lay his hands on him, to kill him. Perhaps the same way he killed Juliet.
Zach sat in the bed for what seemed like eternity, listening to nothing but the crickets outside the motel. His eyes remained wide open as he played over scene after scene in his mind of seeking his revenge. When his eye lids finally drooped lower, sleep was finally coming to him, Victor's alarm went off.
Once Victor was ready for the day, he adjusted his jacket and stuck a cigarette in his mouth, "forensics should be at the house, we'll have to go meet with them to see what else they found,"
"The house?"
Victor ushered Zach out the door and locked it, "yea," he lit his cigarette up and made his way to the car, "it's where they were staying in, all this time. Practically in the middle of nowhere."
They drove up to the house, Zach took in how secluded the roads were, how hidden the house itself was behind the talk dark trees.
There were several cars and vans parked in front when they arrived. "Looks like they've already got started long ago," Victor drooped his cigarette then turned to Zach. "Don't touch anything, don't say anything. You're not even supposed to be here got it?"
Zach merely nodded, he was just eager to get inside, to hopefully feel some kind of relief at the fact that Elizabeth was still alive.
When he entered the house where she was being held though, his stomach felt sick instantly. But he followed closely behind Victor as he made his rounds and checked up on his team.
"Anything?"
The same girl who looked at the evidence in the chapel responded back to him as she crouched back up from the floor.
"There's a lot that happened here sir," she pointed to the floor, "we have the same fingernail marks on the floor found from the chapel. There's also bodily fluids on this floor and ..." she moved into the kitchen, "from the black light it look like a pool of blood here..." she continued, looking over Victors shoulder at the young boy behind him.
"You said it pooled here? In this spot?"
"Yes sir," she handed him the camera showing the evidence of the pooled bodily fluid from the black light test.
"Hmm..." Víctor frowned as he looked at the picture, and he knew that a murder had taken place.
"But ... she... she was just seen! it couldn't have been..?" Zach spoke frantically.
"No, this is old." Victor gave back the camera, "she was just spotted a few days ago this must have happened several weeks if not months ago."
As wrong as it might have been, Zach felt relieved.
They arrived to the smaller bedroom, "there's some here as well but not as much as the main bedroom." She sighed and took off her gloves. "What's interesting though is that wall over there."
Victor approached the walls, noticing the slight oxidation that had stained it.
"Something was bolted up to this wall," he exclaimed, his finger ran over it.
"We don't know what it could have been, but it looks as though the windows were covered up," she brought her finger to the sides of the window where Victor could see the holes. "These were boarded up, by planks. They were nailed shut."
Victor looked around the room and then at the bed, pocketing his hands. "I want hair samples tested."
"Yes sir, we're already working on that."
Victor continued, "I want a scenario of what happened here, anything give me something that could explain this."
He turned to the girl, "have you checked the basement?"
"Nothing out of the ordinary"
"Then show me the yard, I want to walk around the property."
*****
The road was dark with practically no lights, the only lights were the headlights of the car.
"Aren't you tired? We've been driving for a while." Elizabeth yawned as she attempted to stretch in the small confinement of the car.
James however still felt the lingering feeling of something catching up to him, he wanted to keep driving as long as possible. Till that feeling went away.
"I'm fine, you should try and get some sleep though," he tried to give her a reassuring smile but Elizabeth was able catch the linger of worry in his eyes.
Just when James thought he had put enough distance between them and the place they used to live, suddenly out of nowhere he saw headlights behind him and then the short sound of a siren with its flashing lights.
His heart jolted up into his chest, with widened eyes he looked in the rear view mirror at the police car behind him.
"Shit..."
Elizabeth looked around her seat, unsure of what this could all mean. Would they be caught? What would become of James? What would become of her?
She was unsure of how to feel, relieved? Scared?
"Lay back in your seat and close your eyes, don't say a word." James pulled over and made sure to put a jacket on top of Elizabeth to cover her up just a bit.
Even still, she was shaking with nervousness. This moment could change everything for her once again, but was it a moment she would want? To go back to her previous life when she's been so used to James and life with him?
For now she laid there pretending to be asleep.
The police officer came up to the window and James rolled it down.
"Good evening officer," he said with a small smile.
"Hello, you know you have a tail light out?" The police officer looked fairly young, at least younger than James especially with the baby face he had on him. It didn't help that he seemed very skinny and frail.
Since his presence was not intimidating, James' confidence returned.
"Sorry, I had no idea. I'll get it fixed as soon as I get to a station."
The officer nodded and looked over at the passenger seat, noticing a sleeping body. His eyes grew serious and then returned to James, "license and registration please."
James couldn't afford to give him his actual name much less his license.
"... I apologize. I lost my license." He said as he handed him only the registration. It was registered under Albert.
"So you're not Albert Tollis? What's your name?"
"Daniel Brown," James said without hesitation.
The officer took out his flashlight and flashed him in the face, taking a good look at him and noticing his eyes were not red and he did not appear to be intoxicated or drugged but still the officer was not comfortable with the conversation.
"Who's that? They okay?"
"It's my fiancé's daughter, she's asleep. I'm taking her to her mother."
"Can you wake her up?" The officer asked, but James hesitated.
"That's not necessary " His patience was growing thinner and thinner.
The officer didn't take kindly to James' back talk, he wanted to make sure the person was alright considering the fact that in his gut something felt off about James.
"Sir, can you step out of the car for me?"
"There's hardly any reason for me to-" James could feel his blood begin to boil.
"Just step out please, it'll only take a sec."
With a slight pause James stepped out and the officer took hold of the driver door. "Excuse me.. miss...? Hello?"
James clenched his fist, he was fighting every urge to lash out on the police officer.
Elizabeth moved slightly and found the officers face, her eyes went wide when she saw him. She was so close to some sort of safety, it felt surreal to be so close to him.
And yet she was terrified.
"Hi... sorry to wake you I just want to make sure you're okay?"
Elizabeth nodded at him, afraid to speak.
"What's your name?"
She tried to open her mouth, to say something but the fear of messing up, the fear that James would take his anger out on her or him if something went wrong, the images of Albert getting stabbed were rushing in her mind she couldn't respond. Her mouth lay slightly open, unable to process or say any words.
"Is he taking you to see your mom? Do you know him?" The police officer said softly just so she could hear but James could make out his words and got annoyed.
"Excuse me? Just what do you think you're asking her?!" His voice was filled with anger.
The officer pulled away from the drivers side and turned back to James.
"You need to calm down."
"No, you need to back off!"
James was coming too close to him, suddenly without warning the office took hold of James and pulled his arms behind his back, pushing him against the side of the car.
"What do you think you're doing!?!Get your hands off me!" James tried pulled away from him.
"Sir if you don't calm down I will have to arrest you!" Elizabeth didn't know what to do, she clasped her hands over her mouth at the altercation before her eyes.
James kept forcing himself away from the officer; he clicked the radio on his shoulder arm and called for assistance from a nearby police car.
"... I have a suspicious disorderly person..no ID..."
James was panicking, his rush of adrenaline lead him to writhe harder against the force of the officer to the point that his head jolted and slammed into the officers forehead, knocking him back enough to release his grip.
The officer stumbled back from the blow, "Why can't you just mind your own business?!" James was furious and punched him in the side of the head, causing him to fall down on the black concrete road.
"God dammit!!" He yelled as he started kicking and kicking the officers body. He kicked him with all his might, trying to fracture his ribs, slamming his foot into the side of his face and back. Blood splattered out of the officers mouth.
"JAMES STOP!" Elizabeth cried out from the car.
Her voice made him turn around, to realize what he was doing, to remind him to stop and control himself.
"Elizabeth..."
Before he could return to the car, the sound of a gunshot rang into the night air paralyzing all motion.