I have truly waited too long to have Regina to myself.
You do not deserve her. She is mine now. She will never be yours again.
Emma had stared at the note from the moment she had gotten it. Her hands had been shaking, her stomach had been turning. She had phoned the police department as soon as she had read the note and spent the time pacing the living room, re-reading the note again and again and again until the Sheriff and his deputy had arrived at the house. She tried to hold it together. She needed to hold it together. For Regina.
"When was the last time you heard from Regina, Emma?" Sheriff Graham asked as he sat down on the sofa beside the blonde haired woman. They lived in a small town, Storybrooke Maine, things like this didn't happen in Storybrooke. It was a quiet town. Everyone knew one another. Things like this just didn't happen.
"I-I-I don't know…" Emma stuttered out. She tried to think back to the last time she had talked to her wife. "I dropped her off at work this morning. Her car has been playing up. She wasn't sure what was going on, I convinced her to put the car in to get it checked out." Emma explained, replaying the day. "We kissed goodbye and she went to her office…I phoned her at lunch, I wanted to see her over lunch but she was too busy, loads of paperwork or something she said…"
"Do you know roughly what time you spoke to her Emma?" Ruby, the deputy sheriff asked, she sat on the coffee table opposite Emma. Emma couldn't help but think how if Regina was here she would scold the young woman and tell her to get off of her coffee table. It was a table not a chair.
Emma furrowed her eyebrows, she tried to think of the specific time. She closed her eyes picturing herself sat in the animal shelter. She had been on the phone to Regina and she had looked up at the clock. Her eyes opened and she looked to Ruby. "It was one thirty." Emma said.
"Okay. So we have narrowed down the time of the kidnap slightly." Ruby said with a slight nod. "It had to be some time after one thirty."
"Did Regina seem out of sorts on the phone?" Graham asked.
"No. I mean I don't think so. I didn't notice anything out of sorts." Emma said with a small shrug. "She didn't sound any different…I don't think…god this is a nightmare." Emma huffed out, her face falling in her hands.
"Emma! Emma!" A voice called from the foyer, the front slamming closed. "Oh my god! Emma what happened?" Emma's mother Mary-Margaret and her father David came rushing into the living room, her mother sitting down beside her and her father sitting on the arm of the sofa. She had called them after calling the police. She needed some form of support. She was going to burst. She held up the note and Mary-Margaret took it and read it over, gasping and handing the note to David. "Oh my god." She breathed out.
"Has Regina recived any notes before? Anything like the note you received today?" Graham asked.
"Not that I know of." Emma said shaking her head. "I'd like to think Regina would tell me but I know what she is like. If she received something like this there is a good chance she kept it hidden. She doesn't like worrying people or…I don't know. She sees it as being a bother to people. I keep telling her she shouldn't feel like that but…god I don't think I can deal with this." Emma said. "Please you have to find her. I can't loose her." Emma said desperate eyes moving from Graham to Ruby. She had to have Regina back. She loved her wife so much. She couldn't loose her.
"We are going to do everything we can to find Regina. We promise Emma." Ruby said reaching forward and placing her hand on Emma's arm.
"I-I Can't loose her….I c-can't…" Emma sobbed, her face falling into her hands. Mary-Margaret wrapped her arms around her daughter holding onto her tightly as she sobbed. She looked back round to Graham. A desperate look in her eyes. Graham was sure he had never seen Emma look to desperate and distraught. "Graham you have to find her. Please."
"Emma you know I will do everything in my power to find Regina." Graham said, looking Emma straight in the eyes, making sure she could see how serious he was. "We will need to take a look through Regina's things, see if Regina did receive any letters or anything suspect."
"Yes. Anything that will help." Emma replied, moving away from her mother, calming down her breathing and her tears, trying to hold herself together as much as she could. She needed to stay strong. "I can let you into her office as well. There might be something there."
"That would be great Emma." Ruby replied.
"Emma do you need us to pick Henry up?" David asked as he placed a hand on his daughters shoulder.
Emma nodded her head, glancing up at her father. How was she going to explain this to Henry? What if they didn't find Regina? How could she tell Henry he would never see his mommy again? "Thanks dad. He is at his childminders, Ashley." Emma looked down at her watch. "Aw god. We're late picking him up." Emma said putting her face in her hands.
"Emma it's okay. Ashley will understand when we go pick Henry up." Mary-Margaret said.
Regina stirred, her eyes fluttering open and she groaned at the pain ripping through her head. Her body ached and she moved, trying to stretch but finding she couldn't move her hands or her feet. She opened her eyes and looked down seeing her hands and feet bound by rope. Her eyes widened and she looked around her finding herself in a dark, damp and cold room lying on a concrete floor.
She tried to scream and call out but found her mouth to be gagged. With difficulty she pushed herself up into a sitting position looking around her a bit more to try and gather more information on where she was. She tried to remember what happened for her to end up where she was now. The last thing she remembered was being in her office. She had been thinking about packing up and going home earlier than usual. She had had to blow Emma off for lunch and she wanted to make sure she spent the night with her and Henry. After this it was all black. She couldn't remember what happened.
Emma please help me. I need you to find me.
Tears slipped down her cheeks as she tried to force her brain to remember how she ended up here. She wanted to be at home. With Emma and Henry. Cuddled up on the sofa and watching a movie or even reading one of Henry's favourite fairy-tale stories. Anything but here in this cold, damp and dark room, bound and gagged and having no idea how she had ended up in this situation. She was terrified. She couldn't deny that.
She jumped as a bolt on the door was unlocked and the door was slowly being opened. Regina shuffled as best she could to the corner of the room, wanting to get as far away as she could from the person that had kidnapped her. She tried to swallow back any emotion that she might have shown, tried to stop her tears from falling as she looked over to the doorway.
"Hello Regina."
Regina gasped as she looked up at her kidnapper. The memories flowed back to her. What was this person going to do to her?
Graham and Ruby searched through Regina's bedside cabinet, her drawers and her part of the wardrobe. They searched through the vanity table, her jewellery box, anywhere that Emma told them Regina may hide any letters or suspect items from the kidnapper. They came up empty handed and Ruby sighed as she sat down on the stool by the vanity table.
"There's nothing here Graham." She said. "If Regina did receive anything from the kidnapper it isn't here."
"Yea." Graham replied. He walked out of the wardrobe. "We need to go and search her office. There might be something there."
"Regina's recently become Mayor. Do you think her ex and also ex Mayor that she just took over from, Leopold White, might have something to do with this?" Ruby asked.
"I don't know but that is the only suspect we may have at the moment. He has some motive. He wasn't happy when Regina became Mayor. He was sure he would be in for longer." Graham said. "Come on. Lets ask Emma what she thinks." Graham said motioning for Ruby to follow him.
They walked out of the bedroom and back downstairs where Emma was sat on her own in the living room, her head in her hands. When she heard footsteps she looked up. "Did you find anything?" Emma asked.
Ruby shook her head and Graham walked over and sat down beside Emma. "Emma do you think Leopold White might have anything to do with this?"
Emma shook her head. "No. I don't think so."
"Are you sure Emma? He wasn't happy when Regina became Mayor and he was out." Ruby said.
"He might not have been happy about that but he wouldn't do this. He and Regina…their marriage never made much sense. It was forced by her parents and he was all up for it but Regina always said he was kind to her. He never forced her into anything…well at least not willingly." Emma explained. "When he found out about Regina and I he wasn't angry, he wasn't upset. He let Regina go. He didn't fight her, he gave her money through the divorce. He pays for Henry even though he doesn't bother about seeing him. He gave Regina full custody without a fight. He was angry about Regina taking over from him as Mayor but I don't think he would kidnap her. His ego was bruised but not enough for him to do this."
"Okay. I think we should question him anyway but we will keep ourselves open for another suspect." Graham said. "For now Leopold White is is our main suspect until we find anything else to tell us otherwise."
"But first we should maybe go and search Regina's office. There might be something there." Ruby suggested. Ruby looked over to Emma. "Would you be okay to let us in Emma?"
Emma nodded her head, pushing herself up from the sofa where she had been sitting for what felt like hours. "Yea. Like I said anything that might help you find her."
Emma unlocked the door to Regina's office and stepped in with Graham and Ruby following her. She looked around a slight smile on her face as Regina's perfume hit her. She inhaled deeply, never wanting to forget the smell of Regina's perfume. "I hope you find something here. Anything that puts us one step closer to finding Regina."
"We do too Emma." Ruby said placing her hand on Emma's shoulder and giving her what she hoped was a comforting smile. "I know Regina would hate to think of us raking through her things."
"Yea she really would." Emma said with a small stopped and her eyes rested on a picture on Regina's desk. Reaching over she picked it up and a small smile fell onto her face. It was a picture of the three of them. Herself, Regina and Henry. They were all smiling. She remembered the day well. It had been an amazing summers day not to long ago. Her parents had invited the three of them out to the park. They enjoyed a lovely picnic provided by her mother and Henry had took his first steps. He had just turned one and Regina was extremely excited about it, especially since Emma caught the steps on video on her phone. Emma reached up and stroked her fingers over Regina's smiling face. She felt so much love for that woman. Her heart hurt as she thought about maybe never seeing her again. It was too much and a tear slipped down her cheek. She tried to compose herself, swiping her hand over her cheek and placing the picture down. She looked around the office once more. "There doesn't appear to be any struggle." Emma noted with a small frown. "If Regina was taken from here then there is no sign of it."
"It looks that if the person took Regina from here then she knew them." Graham said as he opened drawers to Regina's desk. "Her purse isn't here or her coat. Did you notice Regina's car being parked outside?" Graham asked looking over to Emma.
Emma shook her head. "No, but then I guess I wasn't looking for it at the time."
"We can go check after we search here." Ruby said as she looked through drawers around the room. She stopped at the safe sitting on top of a filing cabinet. Turning round she looked to Emma. "Emma do you know the code to this safe?"
Emma shook her head again. "Regina never really talks much about work. She always said she never wanted it to interfere with our home life. She didn't want to be like that." Emma said as she walked over to Ruby. "You could try Henry's birthday. July seventh." Ruby put in the numbers and the lights on the safe flashed red. Emma thought about it, Henry's birthday was too obvious. Of course Regina wouldn't use that. "What about 2016. The year Regina became a mom." Emma suggested. Emma was sure the code had something to do with Henry and she knew Regina would figure out a way to make it less obvious.
Ruby put in the numbers and the lights flashed green. They heard the click of the safe unlocking and Ruby opened the door. She reached in and pulled out a handful of paper that was stuffed in the safe. Walking over she put the papers on the desk. Opening one her eyes widened and she showed it to Graham. "I think we have found the other letters."
Emma will never love you like I love you Regina. She will never treat you like the Queen you are.
I watch you each and every day. I wish you would notice me like I notice you.
I send you this to show you my love my darling Regina. One day I shall have you.
"Is there some form of gift in the safe?" Graham asked. Ruby walked over to the safe, looking in not seeing anything that could have been sent as a gift to Regina. She shook her head. "Maybe she threw the gift out and whoever sent it found out and they weren't happy. That could have been some sort of trigger to them taking her."
Emma frowned as she read the letters, hating that Regina never told her about them. "She should have told me. We could have came to you guys about this. Tried to stop it somehow." Emma said.
Graham looked at Regina laptop, opening it he turned it on. "Emma do you know Regina's password?"
"Erm.." Emma thought for a moment. "Try the year we got together. 2015."
Graham typed that in and the laptop logged in. "I'm going to check Regina's email. See if there might be something in there. Whoever has her might have sent her an email." He opened up her email and looked through the inbox. There was nothing there. Checking through deleted he found a lot of emails from an annomous sender. Opening them up he found exactly what he was looking for.
You will be mine Regina and I will make you so happy. You are my love. You are my future. You will love me as I love you.
Trailing through the emails it seemed as if Regina had been receiving these emails for quite some time. Some of the emails were quite graphic on what this person wanted to do to her. It confused Graham why Regina would never tell anyone. None of the emails could tell him who this person was and he sighed. Leaning back in the chair. "Regina has been receiving these emails and letters for quite a while. She has even sent an email back to the person asking who they were but never received an answer to this. I just wonder why she never mentioned anything."
"She always thinks she can cope with things on her own, fix everything herself. She never asks for help. I keep telling her it doesn't make you weak to ask for help but…it's her mother. She has got into her head since she was a child. Made her think asking for help is a sign of weakness. Her mother was horrible and well…Regina can't get her mother out her mind. Someone tells you something often enough and its hard to stop believing it right?" Emma explained.
"Whoever this is they are clearly very in love with Regina. Infatuated even. If what you say about Leopold White is true then he doesn't really fit with being the kidnapper but I think we should question him anyway." Ruby said. "From the letters and emails the person is obsessed with Regina. They have been watching her for quite some time."
"Watching her? So they will have been watching Henry and I too?" Emma asked.
Graham nodded his head. "I would say so. This person needed to know every available time Regina would be alone. He was always planning on eventually grabbing Regina. Just watching her was never going to be enough. He had to act on his obesession for her. He had to have her. I think it is someone Regina might be close to, not particularly as friends but maybe someone she works with. I know she worked here at townhall for quite some time…"
Emma nodded her head. "Yea. She's always wanted to become mayor. Working at townhall it was a step closer to her dream I guess. Do you think it must be someone who works here?"
Graham nodded his head. "I have a feeling we might have narrowed down our suspect list a little."