Chapter Nine: Day Three
Kevin rolled out of bed and looked at the clock. It was five thirty, and the only reason he was getting up was because he couldn't bear to spend the day with his family. Maybe it was selfish, but he just couldn't. Today his daughter might die. How could he be around his family with that on his mind.
He stepped out of bed and crossed the room, his eyes watching Lucy as her chest rose and fell with every breath. She looked at peace for the first time since this started. Kevin made his way over to his dresser and pulled on a pair of jeans and a t-shirt. He pulled on his shoes and left the room quietly. He stopped at his youngest daughter Kiley's room. She was lying in her bed sleeping. Kevin went downstairs and checked on the twins. He passed Savannah's room, tears falling down his cheek.
Kevin hurried downstairs as quietly as possible. He slipped out into the harsh cold morning air. He didn't no where he was going. He thought about going down to the police station, but he didn't have a fight in him this early. So he hopped in his car and drove around. He decided to get on the West Side Highway, maybe hang out around Chelsea piers, or the South Street Seaport. He checked his phone; he couldn't believe he'd been driving around for four hours already. Lucy and the kids were probably awake. He couldn't help wonder if Savannah was awake.
Thinking about Savannah was hard. Then he thought about Layla. Her parents. How could they go on the news and release information without talking to him or Lucy? He was tempted to drive to their house and yell at them. Kevin parked the car and sat staring out at the water.
"Please god, bring her home!" He cried.
Lucy rolled over to hug Kevin, but no one was there. She sat up and looked around, he was gone. Lucy felt her heart drop. She knew he wouldn't be home. He had left because he couldn't bear to be around them today. She understood, she didn't want to see anyone today, but him, and he was gone.
Lucy got up and went downstairs. Jacob and Andrew were downstairs watching cartoons. They looked bored, they should have been in school but Lucy wouldn't let them go. So they were stuck watching baby cartoons.
"Mom, I'm Hungry!" Andrew whined. Lucy walked into the living room.
"What do you want for breakfast?" Lucy asked.
"I don't want breakfast it's 11:30 at school we'd be eating lunch soon." Andrew said.
"Yeah. And we already had cereal for breakfast since you and Dad weren't awake and we didn't want to bother grandma." Jacob said.
"Okay—"
"Can we go to the deli down the block?" Jacob asked.
"No. I'll make you…how about grilled cheese?" She looked at them hopefully. Jacob and Andrew glared back angrily. Just then Annie walked in carrying Kiley.
"Good morning. Everyone slept in real late. Where's Kevin?" Annie asked putting Kiley down.
"He went out. I was just about to make the boy's grilled cheese. Kiley you want one?" Kiley nodded and sat down on the couch her eyes fixed on the cartoon. "Mom you want anything?" Lucy asked rubbing her forehead.
"We didn't say we wanted grilled cheese!" Jacob yelled.
"Well what do you want?" Lucy asked losing her patience.
"We want you to stop hovering over us!" Andrew yelled. They stood up.
"We want to go to school! Kind of…" Jacob yelled looking at his brother. "Or at least go outside."
"Well you can't!" Lucy yelled losing her temper. "Do you even care about Savannah? Do you even know what might happen tonight! And all you care about is your selves!" Lucy shouted. Kiley began crying.
"Luce…"Annie said hurrying over to calm Kiley down.
"Yeah we care. We don't want to sit around and watch you and Dad mope. When Dad's even home. We'd rather be keeping busy!" Andrew shouted. Jacob ran and got his coat, Andrew followed.
"What are you doing?" Lucy shrieked.
"GOING TO THE PARK!" Jacob yelled slamming the door behind him and his brother. Lucy rushed out after them, but they were gone.
"JACOB! ANDREW!" Lucy Shrieked. Lucy sat down on the stoop sobbing. She grabbed her cell phone and called Kevin. "Kevin?" She cried.
"Luce?" she could barely hear him.
"Why aren't you home? With us?" Lucy cried. "The boy's ran off!" She sobbed.
"I'll be home later. They'll be fine." Kevin said.
"That's what we thought about Savannah—" But Kevin had already hung up. Lucy buried her head in her hands. How could Kevin do this to her? How could he leave her to deal with this alone? Lucy picked herself up and went back inside. Her feet were frozen from resting in the snow. Kiley ran up to her sobbing. She picked her up and cuddled her in her arms.
"Why?" She sobbed looking at her mother.
"She'll be okay. God will protect her, Luce, have faith." Annie said stoking her daughter's hair.
Kevin hopped back into his car. It was two thirty; He was ready to go to the police station. He needed to know they were doing something. Anything. Lucy was hysterical. He knew he had to go home, but he just couldn't.
He arrived at the police station around three thirty; traffic was bad around this time. He went in and headed upstairs. The whole time people were watching him, staring sadly. He didn't care, they didn't understand, he didn't want their pity. The doors slid open and Kevin stepped out. He spotted Evan instantly.
"Kevin what are you doing here?"
"You know I can't just stay home and wait for you to call me! I need to know how it's going!" Kevin demanded.
"All right—"
"Evan damn it you're my partner. Wait. Did you say okay?"
"Yes. Come here." Evan pulled Kevin into the hall. "I've been working with the SVU unit. I insisted on taking the case, so I have to work with them. We don't have much. We've been checking all the possible suspects of people who work at the club but only a couple of bouncers worked at all the clubs and they don't have access to the computers. We're trying to figure out any other possible suspects." Evan looked up at Kevin.
"Evan! He's going to kill one of them tonight!" Kevin yelled.
"I know. I've been working practically day and night since her disappearance. Kev, I have barely slept. Don't tell me I haven't been doing my job!" Evan said raising his voice. Kevin nodded.
"I know." He pushed past him and walked over the Captains office.
"Kevin? What are you doing here?" He asked looking up from his desk.
"My daughter. He might kill her tonight. YOU HAVE TO FIND HER!" He screamed. Jenkins stood up and walked over to him.
"Kevin we're doing everything we can. I'm not working the case, you know it's an SVU case."
"Send men out to look!" Kevin screamed.
"You know how big NYC is, that would be a wild goose hunt. She's not going to be in the middle of Times Square!" He said angrily.
"DAMNIT! DON'T JOKE! IF SHE DIES—" Kevin shouted menacingly. He glared at the captain. He slammed his fist down onto the desk and stormed out. He reached the elevator just as Evan was getting in. "Where are you going?" He asked trying to sound calm.
"I have to go down to the SVU unit. Look I love your daughter and I am doing everything in my power to bring her home safely. But I got to tell you Kev you storming in every day demanding us to bring her home isn't going to help." Kevin watched him and nodded. The doors open and Evan got out. "I won't sleep until we find her." He said as the doors closed.
Once the elevator was gone Evan hurried towards the SVU unit, he was working with SVU detectives Melanie Grace and Louis Preston, Melanie was pouring over a stack of reports while Louis was sitting opposite her making phone calls. He walked up and stood beside Melanie who looked up at him.
"Hey," She said wearily.
"Hey, Kevin just popped in." Melanie shook her head. "So. What have we got?" He asked hopefully.
"Not much from yesterday. We can't find a connection anywhere. It might be a random person." Melanie said aimlessly.
"We know he has to be picking them. Our only lead is the emails. They didn't go to the same school, or activities, or sporting events, they didn't know each other. They weren't taken from the same club. He has to have some connection to them all." Evan shouted angrily.
"That was Darren. He looked over the autopsy reports again. Couldn't find anything helpful. We don't have his DNA we don't have any prints, so we can't run it through the system, even that could take a couple days." Louis said as he hung up the phone. Evan looked back towards the elevator.
"We have to find him. I promised Kevin…" He whispered. Melanie put an arm on his shoulder. Evan looked thankfully back at her, but they still weren't any closer.
Kevin sat in the park staring out at the playground. He couldn't believe how many hours he had spent in this same spot watching Savannah and Layla run around playing. They were so little, so innocent. They were still so little and innocent, until now. This man was taking away his innocent little girl. Kevin bent his head down and let the tears streak down his face.
Kevin knew he should have gone home hours ago, it was well past eight o'clock and the playground was deserted, which was one of the reasons he had come here. He couldn't bare to go home knowing that his daughter could be found dead in the morning and if she wasn't her best friend, the little girl he had known and loved since she was three, would be.
Finally Kevin got up and headed down the block towards his house. He could see the lights on in the living room. Seeing as it was now ten thirty, it had to be Lucy. He took a deep breath and walked in. Nobody ran over to him hugging and crying, nobody said anything. He went into the living room. Lucy was sitting on the couch, her eyes puffy and red. Kevin walked over and sat down beside her.
"I'm really…really scared…" Lucy sobbed, throwing her head into his chest. He wrapped his arms around her and cried into her hair. He didn't want to let go. Neither of them said anything, it was as if their tears said it all.
They sat there silently for hours just holding each other. Eventually Lucy fell asleep, but not until early in the morning. Kevin nodded in and out of sleep, holding Lucy tighter every time he woke up. He didn't want morning to come.
"Sa…savannah?" Layla said weakly. Savannah took a deep breath and looked in Layla's direction.
"Yea?" She said softly.
"I'm scared…"Layla cried. Savannah listened to her cry quietly trying to regain herself enough to speak.
"I...I know…" She stuttered.
"I just want it all to be over. I don't want this to go on…" She cried. Savannah registered what she was saying.
"No. Layla…we…we have to stay positive." Savannah said pulling herself together.
"There's no p-point he's just going to k-kill us." She sobbed.
"No. He won't. My dad…my dad he'll find us! He's going to save us!" Savannah cried.
"No... no, he's going to save you…" Savannah could hear how tired Layla sounded; her voice was harsh from screaming and crying. "He's going to kill me first."
"No! If he kills…if he…it would be me! He doesn't l-like me…"Savannah was trying to stay strong for Layla, she needed her.
"No…" Savannah reached out as far as she could and grabbed Layla's hand. "Will you promise me something? If…if you make it…which…you will…"
"We will" Savannah cried squeezing her hand.
"And…and I d-don't…promise me…you'll…tell my…p-parents…that I love them…" Layla sobbed her voice trailing off. Savannah broke down crying and grasped her hand.
"We'll be ok-k-kay!" She sobbed.
"I L-l-love you! You'll always b-be my b-best friend!" Layla sobbed. Savannah cried harder grasping her hand tightly.
"I l-l-love you too!" She wailed.
"How touching!"called a voice from the darkness. Savannah cried out in anger.
"I HATE YOU!" She screamed through tears. Her face was dripping with tears. She could hear his cold cruel laugh. "GO A-AWAY!"
"I don't think so." He said switching on the light. Savannah could see Layla's face now. Tears were running down her sweaty face and her eyes were closed tightly. Her grip had softened. Savannah squeezed her hand and Layla opened her eyes.
"Be strong," She mouthed. "Fight him!"
"I can't," Layla mouthed back.
"I hate to break up this special moment. Oh wait. I don't. Tonight is going to be different. I've reached a verdict." He laughed cruelly as he walked over to Savannah and Layla. He bent over Savannah and smiled.
He climbed on top of Savannah and forced himself on her, smothering her in sweaty kisses. Savannah kicked and screamed as much as she always did, she wasn't going to give him the satisfaction of breaking her. Her efforts shortened her turn but were ultimately futile, he got his way.
When he finished with her he climbed on top of Layla. Layla shut her eyes and lay motionless; it looked as though she was barely even breathing.
"Get off of her!" Savannah screamed as loud as she could, she was in pain. He climbed off her and smiled.
"Happy?" He asked. Savannah glared at him waiting for the catch. He pulled out his knife; Savannah winced waiting for him to cut her. But he didn't. It happened so fast; it took her a moment to react. In an instant, he swung his arm out at Layla and dug the knife into her throat.
"NO!" Savannah shrieked, but it was too late. She could see the life leave Layla's eyes as the blood splashed her face and her own. Tears rolled down her cheeks, she was at a loss for words. She couldn't speak, she couldn't even scream. Layla was gone.
Author's Note: Hey Everybody, sorry but it had to happen. This has been planned for awhile, I'm sure some of you knew this was coming. I want to thank people for reviewing and I hope I get lots of reviews for this chapter, if you hate or like it tell me I want to know.
Anyway, I have lot's in store for the next couple chapters they keep getting longer and longer just like I said in chapter one: ) So please Review!! and I will post the next one quickly!! At least two reviews please! Reviews make me happy!
Next Chapter: Day Four
