Chapter Eleven

Craig looked at Greta after he had revealed his startling information. He let out a deep sigh and then admitted to her, "I hate to go in there and tell everyone what's going on."

Greta placed her hand on her hip, wishing she had listened to her bad vibe that had overcame her while she was waiting for Chloe and Craig to show up. She chewed on her bottom lip nervously as she contemplated their options. "I'll go tell the musicians to stop that damn music. Dammit, I can't believe this is happening!"

"Thanks, Greta," Craig said to her gratefully as she walked quickly behind the trees, making an unobtrusive path to the musicians on her mission to cut the cheerfully annoying music. Craig took a deep breath to calm his own rampaging nerves and then prepared himself mentally. He strode meaningfully to the beginning of the aisle.

The music stopped the minute he entered, causing all eyes to turn swing swiftly towards Craig. Craig ignored the multitude of eyes and strode purposefully down the aisle, without Chloe by his side. Murmurs ran through the surprised and now worried crowd. Greta came around the side from behind the musicians and joined Belle and Hope at the altar. "It's not good," she mouthed to both of them as they waited for Craig to reach them. She motioned for Ethan to join them at the altar from his position in one of the rows of chairs. That was the sign to Ethan that something drastic had really happened.

John looked in concern when Ethan joined them at the altar. He realized at that point that Chloe had met with some type of foul play. Which was both a blessing and a curse. He was glad that Chloe hadn't willingly deserted Brady at the altar but he definitely didn't want anything bad to happen to her, either.

Craig took a deep breath when he stood in front of Brady, who had an icy expression on his face, his armor for hiding his true feelings to all of the people who were witnessing this entire debacle. Brady knew that something horrible had happened to Chloe. He did not believe for a minute that Chloe had bolted, leaving him at the altar alone.

Craig's words proved Brady's deductions. "She's gone," he said simply to him, the same words that he had said to Greta. Brady's expression didn't change as he waited for the next shoe to drop. Craig paused before he added, "She didn't go willingly."

Hope swore and turned around after she had her worst fears confirmed. She beat her cheerful bouquet against the pillars of the gazebo, effectively showing the wedding guests that something horrible had happened. The petals from the bouquet fell gracefully to the ground as Hope dropped what was left of the bouquet and listened attentively to Craig and Brady.

"How do you know that?" Brady asked quietly, using all of the self-control he possessed not to reveal his raging emotions right now, in front of half the population of Salem. There would be time to rage and mourn later, he knew, when he had privacy.

"I didn't take a long look at the tent when I went to get Chloe," Craig admitted as he kept his eyes trained on Brady's alone, weighing Brady's reaction to his news carefully. "But, there is a long tear in the back, obviously made by a knife. Someone must have come in through that opening, without anyone's knowledge."

Brady's expression quickly changed from icy impassiveness to a fiery rage, which was reflected as his eyes blazed with fury at Craig's deductions. Chloe, his Chloe, had been abducted from their wedding. He didn't say anything more to Craig, but he turned and looked at his father, effectively shutting out the rest of the people in attendance.

John knew now that Chloe had been forcefully taken from the wedding, that she hadn't left it on her own. He felt slightly guilty for even thinking that she may have stood Brady up at the altar, when he knew how much she loved his son. He also knew what his son wanted him to do now. "Let's go," he said quietly to Brady. Together, the two Black men hurried down the aisle and headed swiftly to the tent. Ethan was right behind them. He wanted to get a good look at the crime scene, before either man in front of him could unwittingly destroy any possible evidence in their haste to discover what had happened to Chloe.

"Oh god," Belle murmured as she threw her bouquet viciously on the ground to show her extreme frustration. "This is even worse than I thought!" She looked at her mother as Marlena approached the dejected group in front of the altar.

"What happened, Belle?" she asked her in concern. The only people who had heard Craig's explanation had been the group at the altar. All of the members of the wedding party were looking extremely desolate and worried, proving to the guests that something terrible had happened to Chloe.

Belle could feel tears start to well up in her eyes for Chloe and Brady, a pair who had suffered through so much. And, she suspected unhappily, were about to suffer through even more. "It seems that someone has abducted Chloe," she said through sniffles. Her voice floated strongly through the crowd of Salemites, causing them to gasp loudly with surprise.

Marlena batted her eyes in her famous dramatic display of worried emotion. "No," she cried out as she brought her hands up to her mouth, covering it in a display of horror.

Hope left the altar and immediately found Bo, who was staring at her in amazement from his position at the end of one of the rows behind Brady's side of the outdoor congregation. "Kidnapped?" he asked her as Belle's revelations to her mother cleared up all questions of Chloe's whereabouts and John and Brady's hasty departure, with Ethan Sinclair following quickly on their heels.

"We need to leave, Brady," Hope said, using her affectionate nickname for her husband, after she nodded in agreement. "I want to find out exactly what happened in that damn tent." She dragged Bo behind her as they strode swiftly down the aisle and towards the infamous tent.

Greta ignored the gasps of surprises and the murmured conversations that were swirling around them at Craig's startling appearance minutes earlier, John and Brady's rapid exit, and Belle's amazing announcement. She fixed an emotionless look on her face and sprinted after Bo and Hope, anxious to find out everything she could about Chloe's sudden disappearance.

Craig held Nancy to him as she started to cry loudly. "Who would do something like this, Craig?" she asked him between sobs. "Why would someone want to kidnap Chloe? Right from her very own wedding?" Tears fell unheeded down her cheeks as she looked imploringly at Craig with her eyes, pleading with him to answer her questions.

Craig patted her consolingly on the shoulders as he comforted her. "I don't know, dear, I just don't know." Suddenly, he remembered the distraught woman who had distracted him earlier. "What a minute!" he exclaimed as he reached a logical conclusion. His face revealed his shock and his own anger at his stupidity. "Nancy, I've got to find Brady. There's something he needs to know." Craig broke free from their embrace and headed quickly after Greta.

Belle hugged Shawn tightly as she overheard Craig's conversation with Nancy. She turned to look at him, obvious concern marking her eyes, as the meaning of Craig's words sank in. "I think Craig remembered something important."

Shawn looked down at his worried young wife and tenderly traced her cheek with his hand. "You wanna go find out?" he asked her quietly, raising his eyebrows in question. At Belle's answering furious nod, he held her hand and led her back down the aisle, towards the growing gathering that would be meeting around Chloe's tent. Phillip went after the two of them, picking up Mimi along the way.

Marlena and Nancy glanced at each other, exchanged worried looks again, and then came to an unspoken agreement. They turned and went down the aisle, following the crowd of people to the crime scene.

The guest watched the mass exodus of the wedding party in concern and mute fascination, not certain what they should do now. "One thing you have to say about living in Salem," Kate announced to Roman Brady and her son, Austin, as her voice carried over loudly to everyone still in attendance. "There is never a dull moment!"