Ok, so this is taking a while to reveal itself, so I'll post as quickly as I can. I need to finish off chapter 11 and then write one further chapter and we're done!

This is a short one so review and I'll get the action packed chapter 10 up for you!

Thanks for the reviews as always! Truly thanks! I'm having a very lonely week with my husband and best friend both away so I'm enjoying the reviews especially!

P.s. Dawson as a villain - yeah he seems to be the bad guy. I'm not really seeing him as the character from the show - I don't hate Dawson from the show, he was just a great choice to cast as the villain in this. Sorry.

Chapter 9

DAY 4

'Finally,' Jen slammed her lap top closed as Pacey walked into apartment. 'Where the hell have you been? Jack and I have been going crazy here...'

'At Joey's work,' Pacey was exhausted and had no energy to deal with her anger.

'So what's going on? I can't do anything,' Jen was red eyed herself and on the verge of bursting into tears. Pacey relayed the information Kinster had given him, watching Jen visibly wince when she realized Joey had been protecting her. He then gave details of his trip to Dawson's. He'd spent the night in the bar across the street, Hells Kitchen. Thinking.

'Is that normal?' Jack asked with a frown. 'To be so helpful? I mean it seems kinda sick to take a girl and then offer to help look for her.'

'Perpetrators often join the hunt for missing people, it's, as always, about control,' Jen said wisely. The boys looked at her, 'Joey told me that.'

'Well shouldn't we call her friends and family before making assumptions? I mean Dawson does have a point,' Jack added.

'Look I haven't finished,' Pacey wanted to tell them what he'd found.

'But this could all be over if we called them,' Jen stated.

'Do we even have numbers to call them?'Jack asked Jen, Pacey growing increasingly infuriated by their lack of focus.

'Trust me, it's not necessary,' Pacey thought of the moment in the restaurant when she told him she had no one. One weirdly honest moment in the midst of deception. He didn't doubt that she'd told him the truth, although he didn't know why. Maybe to let him know that should she disappear there would be no one but them to miss her, to find her.

'How come you're so sure?' Jen asked. 'That Dawson is full of bullshit?'

'What does Joey always have with her?' Pacey asked deciding he shouldn't be the one to reveal Joey's secret.

'Cell phone,' Jack and Jen said in unison.

'And?' Pacey wanted them to get it. Both were concentrating fiercely.

'That thing we made her - that stupid little safety pin thing,' Jen landed on the right answer with triumph. The first year they'd all met, Joey had said she was staying at Columbia through the holidays, keen to do some extra work. They'd made her a bundle of things for Christmas including the tiny safety pin with a row of beads - something Jen's grandmother had taught her to make. There were eight beads - two blue for Jen, two red for Pacey, two green for Jack and even two yellow for Dawson. That was back when they were all friends. Since the day she'd received it Joey had worn it someplace on her person as a good luck talisman.

'Recently the pin was starting to go but she wouldn't let me get another. I saw it in Dawson's hall,' both Jen and Jack paled at this information. 'I went straight to the bureau and they say it could have got there Saturday night when she abandoned our dinner with Dawson - apparently that's where she went. They're gonna go check his place again but they aren't hopeful.'

'Was she wearing it Sunday? 'Jen asked.

'I can't remember, I was too damn mad,' Jack admitted.

'Weren't we all?' Pacey agreed.

'What about at your dinner? Or during your cake fight?' Jen asked eagerly.

'I can't remember, I keep trying but I can't,' Pacey grimaced.

'But if they're right then maybe she is somewhere safe? Maybe Dawson doesn't have her?' the hope lit up Jens features.

'I know you want that to be the case, hell we all do, but Joey doesn't have anyone - we're it,' Pacey sighed.

'But everyone has someone,' Jen murmured helplessly.

'She has us,' Pacey watched Jack and Jen absorb the information.

'So what now?' Jack asked at length.

'We wait for the bureau to sweep,' Pacey told them.


Pacey only meant to close his eyes for a second, just to rest them, but when the phone call woke him it was dark outside and he realized he'd slept most of the afternoon.

'Hey,' he answered the phone.

'Can you come in?' he recognised the voice as Kinster's.

'I'll be there in ten.'

'Bring Jack and Jennifer if they're around.'


Twenty minutes later Jen and Pacey were pressing the buzzer. Almost immediately an Asian woman answered.

'Meesha,' Pacey nodded in greeting to Joey's friend.

'Pacey, its been a while,' she nodded curtly and showed them into a room where Mallory and Kinster were. In the middle of the table was Joey's pin.

'This it?' Kinster asked straight away. Pacey and Jen examined it, but there was no question,

'Definitely,' both responded in unison.

'It was in the floor board crack by the edge of that rug in the front hall like you said. It was barely visible. I'm amazed your saw it,' Kinster nodded to Pacey. 'We found no other trace of her but a hair, but that could have been there from Saturday night - they both could have.'

'Joey would have said if it was missing I'm sure,' Jen looked at Pacey for confirmation.

'It's true, she's worn that thing everyday since we gave it to her - she always knows where it is on her person. You must have seen her playing with the beads? It's such a part of her you almost don't notice her doing it,' Pacey described and both Kinster and Mallory nodded in agreement. Of course Pacey had noticed. He noticed every thing about her.

'We found her phone. On the metro line. It had fallen between the rails. The battery was knocked loose but the phone was ok. It had Dawson's finger prints all over it,' Kinster watched Jen and Pacey closely. Both of them frowned. He waited.

'But Jo doesn't lend her phone to anyone - I mean no one. It's never just lying around, it's always on her person,' Jen looked at Pacey who nodded.

'That's what we thought. There are only two sets of prints on there - Joey's and Dawson's.'

'So the bastard definitely has her?' Pacey felt sick and looking at Jen he didn't think he was the only one. 'I mean there's two bits of evidence.'

'He was certainly the last person to see her,' Kinster didn't know what else to say. 'We know she had her cell at dinner with you Pacey.'

'So what now? We just sit and hang around? Wait for him to do all these horrific things to her? What does he do to them?' Pacey asked.

'Believe us, you don't want to know,' Kinster shook his head slightly. He looked as pale and drawn as the rest of them.

'Isn't there anyone else to check with?' Jen stammered, her voice barely audible. 'Pacey says there's no one but maybe you guys know more...'

'She doesn't have anyone,' Kinster sighed. 'Well she had a friend from the group home, but neither she nor her partner have seen her - it's a dead end. They've not spoken for ten years anyway.'

'Group home?' Jen asked softly, but no one answered.

'So how long have we got?' Pacey asked.

'How long for what?' Mallory looked at him confused.

'How long till he does something to her that there's just no getting over?'

'I'm afraid that time has already passed,' Kinster looked at his hands. He felt responsible.

'That time has passed?' Jen echoed his words.

'Yes, I'm afraid it has.'


Joey watched her cloaked and masked assailant move about the room. His movements were deliberate. Her hair was wet with tears. She didn't know whether it was worse to know what he was going to do or not. She was scared and she hated herself for the fear. But she was still in control.