I'm beginning the chapter by giving the face claimers. The face claimers are on a website I made. If you're interested you can find the site's address in my bio. You would have to copy the link and paste it into your address bar.
I hope you enjoy this chapter.
"This is ridiculous. We should not be cutting deals with this kid."
"This is my case, so that's my decision." The agent looked up from the file to the sheriff. "He has the information we need. Mercedes has been missing for a month now. All the information we've gotten before has lead us to dead ends. Now, we have someone willing to tell us everything he knows, and you're against it."
"He's hiding," the sheriff argued. "The respectful thing to do it to come in here and talk to..."
"He's being helpful," the agent interrupted before checking the time. "I'll handle this alone."
The agent entered an office, sat behinds the desk, and waited for the face to appear on the computer screen.
"Connor Isaac," the detective called, watching the curly haired male on the monitor. "I'm Agent Robbins with the FBI. Mr. Isaac, you've sent a written statement promising that the information you'll be giving on this case is all true."
Connor nodded his head. "I'll tell you everything, but, by law, you can't force me back into the US," Connor explained.
After leaving Pennsylvania, Connor flew out of the US to a country where the extradition law didn't apply. He didn't have to worry about being deported back to America for a trial, but he couldn't run from his guilt.
"I understand Mr. Isaac," Agent Robbins said, opening the folder on the desk. "Let's begin with the sketches Ms. Lopez provided." The agent lifted the sketch of Wren. "We were recently able to identify the suspect in this sketch...
"Wren isn't a suspect," Connor interrupted. "He was an incident person that got caught up in a situation that casted him his life." He hated hearing Wren being called a suspect.
Robbins looked down at the picture of the photo of the dead body they discovered and identified. "We found his body in Pennsylvania," he informed, deciding not to share the pictures taken of the scene. The agent looked at Connor's still face for a long moment before moving on and holding up the other sketches. "Could you identify these two?"
"Jason Mendes," Connor stated, painting at one of the drawing then to the other, "and Dustin Matheson."
The agent nodded, writing the names down on a yellow pad. "Were there any others involved?"
"We were hired by a guy," he admitted. "He said his name was Keith Fox. African-American; bald. He had a mustache, but I don't remember the details."
"Where did you meet Mr. Fox?"
"I first met him at a restaurant near campus, but we met almost a week later at a bar."
"Do you really think you should have come here?" Wren asked as he followed Connor. "Meeting a guy in a dark bar doesn't sound strange to you, because it does to me.
"I know I've told you to stop staying up to watch mob movies," Connor remembered, smirking. They entered the bar and Connor scanned his new surroundings. "There's the guy. Stay here."
"No," Wren argued. "I'm not letting you talk to some random guy alone. He could be an escaped mental patient for all you know."
Connor rolled his eyes and allowed Wren to follow him to a booth on the back of the bar.
"Nice to see you again, Connor," Keith said, standing to shake Connor's hand. "May I ask who is you friend?"
"I'm Wren," he introduced himself as he shook hands with Keith.
"Do you want drinks?" Keith asked the two boy sitting across from him. "They're on me."
"We're not twenty-one," Wren answered, becoming even more cautious of the man in front of him. Wren was a stickler for rules. He had no plans to drink, even though he was only a year under the legal age.
Keith smirked and nodded at the brown haired boy, then turned his attention to Connor. "Well, let's get to the point."
"He wanted me to get some of Mercedes's records and hack things, like her Facebook," Connor explained to the FBI agent. Connor was quite famous for hacking computers and programs.
"Why did you agree to do that?"
"He was willing to pay me $6,000. That was a lot of money for something I could do easily," he answered. "Wren didn't have a job, and I had just lost mine, so we needed it. Living in New York is expensive."
"Where did you work?"
"I was a financial advisor. The company that I worked for moved to Atlanta. I didn't relocate because of med school."
"When did you hear from Mr. Fox again?"
"I heard from him two months later in late July," Connor admitted. "He told me to meet him in a park outside the city later that night."
Connor looked over at the clock and read 2:12. He stepped out of his room to find Wren asleep on the couch and 'The Untouchables' playing on the TV. He turned the movie off just as Al Capone lifted his bat to hit one if his men in the back I the head.
He walked on the sidewalk until he reached the park where Keith told him to meet him. As he walked through the wooded park he couldn't shake the feeling of being followed. He turned off the path to hide. As his stalker continued to walk, Connor tackled him.
"It's me! It's me!"
Connor lowered his fist. "Wren, what are you doing here?"
"I could ask you the same," Wren stated as Connor stood. "I told you not to get involved with this guy again."
"I left you at the apartment for a reason. Go back," Connor ordered, beginning to walk away.
"If I'm leaving, you're coming with me." Wren followed behind Connor. "Connor, this isn't a good idea."
"Hello, gentlemen." Keith smirked as he walked towards the two.
"Goodbye," Wren said, beginning to pull Connor back.
Connor stumbled backwards before snatching away from his friend. "Go home," he sternly ordered and turned to Keith. Connor looked over Keith's shoulder to see two other figures strolling towards them.
"Wren," Keith called. "Why don't you stay for this?"
"That was when he brought up his plan to kidnap Mercedes," Connor informed. "He didn't tell us why he wanted her, but he said he would give us $50,000 each. I told him I wasn't sure if I could do something like that, and he told me to think about it."
"But you still took the opportunity."
"Yeah," Connor nodded. "I really don't know why."
"Was it because of the money?" the agent asked.
"No," Connor answered. "At first, I really didn't think he had it. I had him pay me and Wren half of the money before we did anything, and he gave it to us in cash."
"How did Wren feel about helping?"
"He never did like the plan. He tried to talk me out of it plenty of times. I didn't quit, so neither did he. If I had just stopped for a second and really thought it through, then Wren wouldn't be dead." he acknowledged, feeling guilty. "We spent weeks getting ready for "the night"," he said making air quotes.
"There aren't any street cameras that look over this lot, so don't worry about them," Connor stated, looking back at Dustin.
"There she is," Wren announced from the driver seat, watching Mercedes wave to Santana and Brittany.
Dustin waited until Mercedes reached her car before climbing out of the vehicle. He walked through the empty parking space to her. As Mercedes reached to open her car door he placed the chloroform covered rag over her nose.
She screamed for help as she began to lose consciousness.
Dustin began to drag Mercedes body to the vehicle. "Damn it," he cursed under his breath after noticing her friends rushing in their direction.
Connor jumped out of the passenger seat as Dustin finished putting Mercedes inside. When the girls were close enough, he grabbed Santana's arm.
"Brittany, run," Santana yelled, struggling to escape Connor's grip.
Connor forced his free hand over Santana's mouth. He released her arm and placed his thumb over a vain on the back of her neck.
Santana became unconscious from the lack of blood flow to her brain .
Connor quickly moved his thumb once she was unconscious. He looked away from the Latina in his arms to see Dustin removing the rag from over Brittany's face.
"We just put them with Mercedes and drove off."
"Mr. Isaac, did you know you could have killed Ms. Lo..."
"Yes," he interrupted to answer. "I was careful not to hold the vain too long."
Robbins nodded and moved on. "Where did you go afterwards?"
"We stayed in Lima until the story broke," Connor explained. "After that, we met Jason in Pennsylvania. We kept the girls in the attic. Wren didn't let anyone go near the girls, but me and him."
"How often did you see the girls."
"I only went up to the attic to take them food, or to check on them. Wren was up there more often. I don't know what he was doing, but he went up there every few hours." Connor waited for the FBI agent to ask a question, but there wasn't any. "After three days, they decided to take Brittany back to Ohio."
Dustin walked into the room with Brittany close behind him. "Wren, come on." He points to the boy sitting beside Connor.
"What?" Wren asked confused.
"We're taking this one back to Ohio," Dustin answered. "We're wasting money keeping her here."
Wren nodded before standing. He walked out the room, talking to Brittany.
Brittany was listening, but not responding.
Hours passed before Connor tried calling Wren or Dustin.
"Wren won't answer his phone," Connor announced, ending the call to try calling again. "Did you talk to Dustin?"
"No," Jason lied.
"Well I'm gonna keep trying to call. Just wondering where they are."
"Why are you always on his ass? I'm sure the boy can handle himself, so you don't have to call him every damn minute."
"I do because I don't trust Dustin, and I sure as hell don't trust you," Connor admitted, growing defensive. "It's my business if I call Wren to see where he is."
Jason silently nodded his head and stood from the chair he sat in. "He's somewhere with a bullet in his skull," he mumbled into his beer bottle as he walked past Connor.
"What?" Connor asked, convinced Jason just said something snarky and sarcastic.
"I'm going to sleep." Jason left an angry Connor in the room.
"Dustin came back the next night, and Wren wasn't with him," Connor said disappointingly. "I asked where he was, and Dustin said, "He's dead. I killed him," then he left. No shame."
Robbins sat silently, giving Conner time to gather himself. "Do you believe you can continue?"
Connor sat silently before nodding.
"Why was Brittany chosen as the one to take back to Lima?"
Connor continued to sit in silence. "We needed Mercedes, so we couldn't send her back. Brittany was the easiest to manipulate; Stay quiet, or else. She didn't tell anyone what happened because she was scared."
The agent finished writing, and asked, "did anything happen while Mr. Matheson was out?"
"The morning before Dustin came back, I went up in the attic. Mercedes was complaining about her arm, so I tried to help her. I left the attic and tried to find Jason."
"Why?"
"I knew Jason had something to do with it," Connor admitted, still unacknowledged of Mercedes's act. "Jason has a bad temper. If one of the girls were hurt, surely he was behind it," he explained before returning to his story. "I searched for him on the first floor, then I went upstairs. I saw the attic door was open, but before I could got up there, I heard a lot of noise from a room."
Connor pushed open the door to find Jason standing over Mercedes. "What are you doing?" he asked storming into the room.
Jason's snide response caused the two to feud.
"Don't ever come near her again," Connor yelled at Jason, ending the fight. Connor helped Mercedes stand. He wrapped his arm around her midsection to help her walk up the stairs to the attic. "It's going to be okay," he said as sat her in a chair and studied her face. "I'll go get you some ice." Conner rushed out, and returned moments later with a rag holding ice cubes.
"I really didn't think about Santana. I was so focused on Mercedes that I didn't notice that she wasn't in the attic," Connor excused. "I found her passed out in the room where Jason kept picture of Mercedes."
"Where did he get the pictures?" Robbins inquired.
"Same were taken by Keith, but most were from Jason," he informed. "That was the moment I decided I was done. As soon as Wren came back, I was going to help the girls get out then me and Wren were going to leave. He didn't come back, but I stayed. I couldn't leave those girls there, defenseless against Jason and Dustin."
"So did you do anything?"
"I tried to help. I drew them a layout of the house, and gave it to them. I told them I would unlock the attic door when I knew Jason and Dustin were sleeping, and that they should wait five minutes before going for the back door."
"Why five minutes?"
"Enough time to get back to my room and pretend I've been in there all along," he explained. "I was going to leave that morning, when I knew they had got away, but Mercedes was caught. I waited until 3 o'clock to help her."
"Why 3 o'clock?"
"Dustin and Jason left every day at three and came back around 4:30. When they left I went into Jason's room and untied Mercedes and took her to the room I was in."
"Why did you feel your room was a safe place to keep her?"
"Dustin and Jason never went into that room," he replied. He shrugged his shoulders, not knowing why. "They just hadn't before."
"Well, continue," Robbins ordered.
"They turned around and came back to the house, and saw Mercedes wasn't in Jason's room. They knocked on my door and she hid in the closet. I helped them look for her. When I came back to check on her, she wasn't in the closet. I thought she had used the layout I gave her to get away, but something told me to stay," he admitted. "I didn't know where she was until the next day."
Connor was blindsided as he was forced against the wall. "What..."
"Shut up," Jason ordered, forcefully tying Connor's hands. When the knot was tied he began to push the curly haired boy though the house.
"What's going on?" Connor asked, trying to break free of Jason's force.
"You're going to join Wren," Jason stated opening a door, "but first, you get to see your other friend."
"This is ridiculous," Connor stated before being pushed to the ground. He wasted no time trying to sit up. When he was upright he noticed Mercedes.
"We got your little friend." Jason looked at Mercedes. "You actually thought you could get away, then you trusted him to hide you. You are SO much dumber than I thought you were." He turned to the boy sitting beside her. "I knew 'College Dropout' wasn't smart."
"We were in the basement for hours before we got loose," he stated to the agent.
"Why didn't you check the basement after you noticed she wasn't in the closet?"
"I already said that I thought she was gone," he reminded. "And I didn't know there was a basement."
"But you drew a layout of the house."
"All I knew was that door wasn't an exit," Connor admitted. "We got out the basement at 3:54. I told her to wait while I check that they weren't there. When I came back for her she was gone. I ran from the house to…"
"Why did you leave her behind?" Robbins asked.
"I couldn't risk it. They were about to kill me. They wouldn't kill Mercedes because Keith payed a lot for them to bring her to him. The best I could do was get help," he explained. "I got into town and called the police."
"You were the anonymous person that said Mercedes was in Pennsylvania?"
"Yes, I was," Connor nodded. "I couldn't give them an address because I didn't know where we were. I just told them to hurry because I didn't know what Dustin or Jason were going to do. I thought the police would be able to find her before they got away. Afterwards, I caught a plane out of America," Connor admitted, ending his story.
"Where do you believe she is now?"
"It's the day after Christmas, so I think she would be with Keith by now. I don't know if they would be in New York."
"Why not?" Robbins asked, writing on the pad.
"He talked about a lot of places, so I can only assume he took her to one of them," Connor confessed. He sat back as he tried to think of some cities Keith named. "He's from Texas, but likes the rush of New York. He visits Boston, and DC almost twice a year. He said Maine was beautiful, but Florida and Georgia has better weather." Connor sits in a moment of silence as he continued to think. "I can't thank of anything else to add."
Robbins finished writing on the pad before saying, "Well, thank you, Mr. Isaac. If we come across anymore questions, we'll contact you."
Connor nodded and closed the window.
The sheriff entered the office and sat across the desk from the FBI agent. "What did you find while doing the background searches?"
Hours had passed since the conversation with Connor. After the discussion, Robbins began to run background searches on the names Connor gave.
The agent exhaled a long breath before looking away from the computer. "Where do you want me to start?"
The sheriff shrugged. "Dustin Matheson," the sheriff threw out.
"Dustin is a twenty-three year old from Long Beach, New York. He was raised by a single mother that passed when he was twelve, putting him and his older brother in foster care. He has two DUIs. One where he was underage," the agent read. "Two years ago he checked into a rehab to receive help with an alcohol addiction. He has a three years old that now lives in Ohio. The child's mother, Amy Martin, tweeted a picture of her son and Dustin the same day Brittany was brought back to Ohio." Robbins turned the monitor to the sheriff to show the picture of Dustin holding a small blonde child, oblivious to the girl taking the picture with her phone.
"He returned Brittany, visited his kid, and came back to where was Mercedes was," the sheriff explained his conclusion, earning a nod from the agent. "What did you gather on Jason?"
"Jason is from Seaside Heights, New Jersey. His father was an officer, but was caught up in a scandal for throwing out records. A thirteen year old Jason was constantly thrown into the trial as one of people whose records went "missing". His father died of a brain aneurysm before the trial reached an end. A year after Jason and his family moved to Long Beach, there was a home invasion. Jason's mother and two of his three sisters were murdered. Jason fought the invader and killed him.
"Who was the invader. "
"Wyatt Matheson, Dustin's older brother," Robbins answered. "Jason's serving sister was old enough to take care of him, but she committed suicide three months later. She left a note to Jason," the agent stated, pulling a copy of the suicide note from the folder and handing it to the sheriff.
Dear Jason,
I sorry that I'm leaving you after everything our family has been through. I just can't take it anymore. I was the reason for the attack. I was kidding and I guess Wyatt took it seriously. I'm so sorry, little bro. I'm sorry for putting you through this, but I'm losing it. Don't forget me or our family. I love you, and mom and dad love you, and Hannah and Olivia love you. Don't forget that. I want you to live your life, forgive others and especially yourself.
Love, Julie
"Jason was put in foster care at the age of fifteen. Eventually he landed in the same foster home as Dustin. That's when Jason's criminal activities shot with multiple theft and assault charges. All were dropped." Agent Robbins sat, rereading the files. "The biggest snag I'm looking at in this case is who is Keith Fox."
"Why is it a problem?"
"The only "Keith Fox" I found record of in New York was a six year old. He gave them a fake name," Robbins stated. "We just have to work harder to find Mercedes, because we WILL find her."
Thank you SO much for reading this chapter. Please let me know what you think of this chapter and the face claimers. I'm happy to read that I'm getting reviews from readers that usually don't review. I'm also exited to get positive comments from authors I like to read. I'm thankful for those who review, but also for those who just read.
THANK Y'ALL.
