Disclaimer: I do not own the Once Upon a Time franchise.
AN: Sorry for the delay in posting. I was out of town and didn't bring a laptop.
Chapter Twenty-Two
Neal paced the back room of his father's shop. "So, you have a plan for finding this Walsh West?" He asked his father.
Robert Gold leaned heavily on his cane, "Bae, take a deep breath and sit down." He told his son. "I've got it all taken care of. I found out where Mr. West works. We are going to take a trip to Arizona to see this Mr. West." He paused, "Emma will think that everything is safe here when we leave. Once we meet Mr. West we'll be able to formulate a plan to eliminate Emma and get you Henry." He paused, "That is what you want, right, Bae?"
Neal took a deep breath, "I want Emma to hurt the way I hurt."
Patting his son's shoulder, Gold replied, "She will, son. I promise you that she will."
Simon Sanders parked his car in front of Granny's Diner. He'd followed Emma from the Portland bus depot, to a cheap motel. According to traffic footage he'd managed to hack into, she headed North. He wasn't entirely sure they were here in Storybrooke. It was the second small town he'd driven through in the past few days, but his gut was dancing in the way it usually did when he was right.
Getting out of his rental car, he wandered into the little diner. A waitress in short shorts with red streaks in her hair and heavy make-up on greeted him, "Hi, table for one?" She questioned, batting her eyelashes.
He nodded, "In the back." He motioned away from the tables in the center of the restaurant she wanted to place him at. Instead, he wanted to be able to watch people coming in and out to see if anything sparked his interest.
Once he was seated and had given his drink order, the waitress commented, "You're new to town."
Shrugging out of his leather jacket, he shook his head, "No, I'm not staying. Just stopping for lunch and gas." He replied, "I'm headed back home to Portland. I was visiting my parents up North." He lied cleanly.
She seemed to consider his words for a moment before giving him a wide, toothy grin, "Well, I'll let you look over our menu while I grab your coffee."
So far no one else had wandered into the diner. Most of the guys were at the school keeping an eye on the kids. Granny was upstairs cleaning up the recently vacated rooms. The first few tourists were wandering into town and they were expecting a steady flow and a lot of business. Ruby kept one eye on the stranger as he ate his BLT. There was something off about him. Something that wasn't like a normal tourist. Still, he said he wasn't staying, so she wasn't sure if she should be concerned about the dark aura around him.
When the door slammed shut loudly, Ruby jumped. Leroy and Scarlet were grumbling to each other as they moved to the bar top. She grabbed two menus and place settings and followed them over. "How was the school today?" She asked.
The two men had just come off their shift watching the kids at the school. "Loud." Leroy grumbled. "Dave and August are there now." He motioned to the coffee pot and pulled a flask out of his pocket. Ruby rolled her eyes, but poured two cups of coffee, watching as Leroy spiked both mugs with what she assumed was whiskey before taking their orders and then sauntering off.
The diner was busy and sparsely staffed, so Simon was able to sit in silence and take in what was going on around him without the waitress bothering him again, other than to drop off his check. After about fifteen minutes, Simon stood up, picking up the check the waitress had left on his table and moved to the cash register to pay. He'd noted that the two men sitting at the bar were likely the town dunks and troublemakers, based on the way they'd interacted with each other and with the other patrons brave enough to approach them. While he waited to be cashed out, he ambled up to the two. Reaching into his pocket, he pulled out the picture of August, Emma, and Henry, and two fifty-dollar bills.
"I need some information." He whispered softly, his eyes darting around to make sure the waitstaff was occupied and the other patrons weren't paying any attention to him.
"Information costs." One said in a rough English accent.
Simon slipped them each one of the bills and placed the picture between them. "You ever seen these people?"
Leroy and Scarlett looked at the picture of Emma, August, and Henry, and then at each other. Pocketing the fifty, Leroy pushed the picture back. "Never seen 'em."
Scarlett also shoved the bill in his back pocket, "Me neither. And I bloody well can't stand kids so I wouldn't be looking for 'em."
The two men turned back to their coffees and burgers, turning their backs to Simon. He frowned, but moved away from them just as the waitress came back to the register, "Ready?" She asked.
Simon nodded and handed her enough cash to cover the bill and the tip. He shrugged into his jacket and headed to his truck. He wasn't sure what was going on, but Storybrooke was more interesting than he thought it would be.
When the door to the diner shut, Leroy stood up and moved to the window. Yanking Ruby's pad and pencil out of her hand as she passed by, he jotted down the license plate of the truck as it pulled out onto Main Street.
"What the hell, Leroy?" Ruby asked, reaching for her pad. "I need that."
Grumbling something incoherent, he ripped off the page with the license plate number and handed the pad and pencil back to Ruby before digging his phone out of his pocket. "Scarlet's paying for lunch." He called out, ignoring the way Will protested as he made his way back to the inn where things were quieter.
Granny was standing behind the desk and she gave him a sharp nod as he sat down in an overstuffed chair and flicked through his contacts until he found Graham's name.
"Sheriff Huntington."
"Graham, it's Leroy."
"What's going on?"
"A man just came into town. I have the plate from his truck. He paid Will and me fifty bucks each and showed us a picture of Emma, August, and Henry. He wanted to know if we'd seen 'em. We both said 'no,' but I'm not sure if he believed us or not. He lingered outside a bit long for me."
Graham let out a curse and fumbled around, "Read me the license plate."
"Maine plate: RVZ92516." Leroy read off.
"Thanks, good work, Leroy."
"No problem." Leroy mumbled before hanging up.
When he came back into the diner he smacked Will's back. "I've gotta get to my shift at the hospital." He gave Ruby a wave and headed out the door, wandering down the street.
Simon Sanders turned his car off and left it parked in an alley before following the grumpy short man on foot. Simon knew the man had more information than he was wiling to share, and Simon was determined to figure out what it was. Keeping enough paces behind the man, Simon was disappointed when they stopped in front of the hospital. He watched as the older man entered the hospital and after a few minutes he followed inside, slithering into the waiting room and picking up a magazine to watch and see what the man did.
After ten minutes, Simon was about to stand up and leave when the short man came back into the waiting room this time in janitor's clothing pushing a mop. Letting out a low frustrated growl, Simon tossed down the magazine and stormed out of the hospital. Of all the things, he'd followed the grouchy man to work.
Storming down the street, Simon headed back to his truck to point himself north to continue his search for Emma, August, and Henry.
Belle paced in front of the Sheriff's Station. No one was there yet, but someone should be shortly. Robert and Neal had just come home from the shop and announced they were going on a father-son bonding trip to Boston. And Belle did not believe them for a minute. When Graham pulled up, she hurried over to him. "Robert and Neal are leaving town. Robert says their going to Boston, but I don't believe him."
Graham was a little shocked by Belle's flustered state and ushered her to the door, "Come on inside, lass, and we'll start from the beginning."
Once Belle was inside, Graham motioned over to the couch and nudged her down, "Now, what is this about them going to Boston?" He asked.
Belle nodded, fidgeting with her wedding bands, "Yes, they were at the shop this morning and then just came home and announced that they were going on a father-son bonding trip to Boston. Robert was lying to me, though. I know it."
Graham leaned back and sighed, "Okay, I'll find out where they're really going. In the meantime, you should act like you believe them and stay calm. If you get scared though, you pack a bag and you move in with us." When she didn't respond, Graham asked, "Okay, Belle?"
Reaching out, Belle pulled her brother-in-law into a tight hug. "Thanks, Graham. I'm so sorry Robert is doing this." She whispered.
Rubbing her back, Graham murmured, "Always, Belle. You're family. Never forget that."
Once Belle was gone, Graham moved into his office and sat down to run the plate Leroy had sent him. It was a rental car coming out of a local Portland Hertz office. Picking up the phone, he called the number and identified himself. It took a few minutes and finally faxing over his credentials before he got the name of the person who leased the truck.
Simon Sanders.
This felt scarier than Gold and Neal.
That night, Emma hung up the phone and wandered from Killian's bedroom where she'd taken the call back to the living room, where Killian and August sat on the sofa. "That was Graham." She told them. "There was a man in town asking about us. He had a picture of you, me, and Henry." She motioned to August, keeping her voice down so they didn't wake Henry.
August ran a hand through his hair, "West." He picked up his empty tumbler and moved to Killian's bar to refill his drink.
Sitting down heavily, Emma curled into Killian's side. "He found us."
Killian wrapped an arm around Emma and tightened his grip on her. "He did." He glanced down at her, "Will you leave now?"
Emma snuggled deeper into his arms, "I don't know. I don't want to." She whispered.
August moved back into the living room, "What else did Graham say?"
Emma picked up Killian's glass of rum and took a sip, "He approached Leroy and Will. They sent him on his way and said they hadn't seen any of us." She recapped. "He told Ruby he was just passing through town and that he was headed home to Portland after visiting his parents upstate." She repeated what Graham had gathered from stopping by the diner and talking to Ruby. "And there's more."
"More?" Killian asked.
"Belle stopped by the station. Gold and Neal are going to do father-son bonding and travel to Boston. Graham got ahold of their flight plans." She locked eyes with August.
"They're going to Scottsdale." August finished. He glanced down into his tumbler before throwing the rest back. "Fuck."
"Yeah," Emma agreed, "fuck."