A/N – Opening night of Annie went well, nut I cant say much for the second performance. The third also went well, plus a guy that I have liked since July went to the Saturday performance and I was excited!! Too bad that was the mess up night. O, well, at least he came to see me. I have a break until Thursday, so I might put out another chapter if I get 15 soon enough on this one :) ~Bee

The Absence of Fear 5

Scott was really getting frustrated with the cop he was speaking with down at the station.

"I'm sorry, son." The man said "But you can't file a missing person report until 48 hours since they were last seen. Maybe she just went out somewhere."

"No. No, Shelby wouldn't do that. She knew I was coming to get her. And the lady at the front desk said she left with a man that fit the description of Brad."

"Brad's her ex-husband, that's what you said, right?" the cop asked

"Yes!" Scott said.

"What would he want with Shelby? Does she have something of his, any reason why he would take her?"

"No...I don't know anything, he was abusive...he was in jail..." Scott was getting hysterical.

"Okay, son, I think you need to take your daughter home and get some rest and let us take care of it." The cop said trying to usher Scott out.

"I don't NEED to go home and rest, what I NEED is my wife back and you're not doing anything to help me with that!!" Scott yelled. The cop showed no reaction. Scott calmed down a little. "Please, sir, she is 5 months pregnant with twins...she didn't just get up and leave her hospital room. There are three lives on the line here....and if you're not going to do anything to stop this, then tell me now, because I am going to go out there and find my wife and bring her home, and I really hope you're gonna help me because if I go by myself and I find them....I'll kill him. I'll kill him and I won't think twice about it." Scott finished.

The cop stared at him for a moment before opening his mouth to speak. "How old are you, son?"

"22." He said.

"22, huh? Okay, well, I'm gonna help you out, because I don't want you to mess up you're life with pre-mediated murder. You just admitted to me that you would kill him if you found him, and if you did that would make your jail sentence even longer. Honestly, I think you were serious when you said you'd kill him and I don't want to see you do that. You're still a kid. So, come on with me." The cop said and led him into his office.

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Shelby and Brad had been driving for what seemed like hours. She thought maybe she could still sweet talk him out of this.

"Brad, where are we going?" she asked into the silence.

"Wherever I want to go." He said.

"I really want to go home, Brad." She said "Please, can we go home?"

"No. You shut up back there." He growled. She was quiet for a few minutes.

"Are you gonna kill me?" she asked. She was trying to keep him talking so he wouldn't go crazy on her.

"I haven't decided yet." He said. "It's not like anyone would miss you if I killed you anyway. So I might let you live. I might let you live with the fact that nobody wants you. Nobody wants you because you're a slut and nobody is capable of loving you."

"You son of a bitch." She breathed angrily.

"Shut up!" he yelled at her.

"NO! You can call me all the names you want and you can insult my family all you want, but we'll always be more then you ever were. You're nobody. You could kill all of us and you'd STILL be nobody." She hissed.

"SHUT UP!" he yelled. He pulled the car over and leaned into the back seat and grabbed her neck. :"Do you want me to kill you now? Huh?!" he yelled at her. She tried to shake her head or say no. "Then shut up." He said and let her go. He turned back around. She touched her neck where he had grabbed it.

Oh, Scott she thought Where are you? Help me. I need you now.

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