Chapter 10

"Oh, my, God…," she trailed off. The words etched in black ink stared at her, they taunted her, they mocked her.

"Theresa, what? What does it say?" Luis asked urgently.

Theresa stared at the words that seemed to smile evilly at her. She ran her eyes over the words again and again and she knew that they were real. Theresa swallowed hard, a numbing shock overtaking her body.

"What does it say?" Luis asked again. Theresa paused once more, trying to get the words out, but her fear stopped her. "Theresa," Luis said wanting to know.

She stuttered first and finally she heard herself say the words. The paper trembled as she read from it. " 'A LITTLE JUSTICE… WITH A LITTLE PERSON.' "

Luis understood what it meant instantly. "Would she-"

Theresa looked up at him quickly. "Yes," she cut him off. "Little Ethan…"

Theresa was rambling, hysterical.

"Theresa, you need to calm down," Luis tried.

"Luis, how can I calm down! My mortal enemy stole my child, my husband, and my mother. And now she is threatening my son! I can't- I can't calm down!"

"Theresa-"

"No," she said pacing the floor. "I'm going to find her. I'm going to find Gwen and when I do… I'm gonna kill her. I swear to God that I'll kill her!"

"Listen to me, Theresa!" Luis said, stopping her hypnotic pacing. "You need to stop, okay. There are other ways to handle this." Luis looked at her for a reassurance and he saw nothing but a blank stare. That's when she finally let go.

She had been so brave the past few hours, she had cried but in the end she had pulled herself together. She couldn't do it anymore. She finally broke down.

Theresa stood there and Luis saw her crumble. The tears fell and he could see how weak she was becoming.

"Theresa…," Luis began quietly. "Look, you need to calm down. Okay?"

"Luis, how am I supposed to calm down? Gwen, that psycho is going to-- she's going to--"

"We don't know that."

"Luis, I can't. I can't do this anymore. I just-- I can't," she cried again.

"Theresa, listen to me, okay? This- this isn't going to get them back. All right? We need to be smart. And you need to trust me." Theresa looked back up at her brother with sad eyes. "We'll get 'em back. I promise."

She didn't know if she could believe him or not but she knew she had to try. For her mother's sake. For her husband's sake. For her son's sake.

"Okay, this is what I'm going to do," Luis began. "I'm gonna go to the station, ask some questions, do a little digging. Will you be okay?"

Theresa forced a smile. "Yeah…," she whispered, her voice laced with pain. "I'll be fine."

"Okay," Luis said kissing her forehead. "I'll be back as soon as I can, okay?" She nodded at him and let her eyes fall to the floor.

Luis left Theresa and walked to his car. He felt guilty leaving her like this but the only way he knew how to help her was to go to the station. As he folded himself into the driver seat of his car, he called the police station, his phone pressed to his shoulder.

-- "Harmony Police Department," a somber voice answered.

"Sarah, it's Lopez-Fitzgerald. Give me Cortez."

-- "Sure. I'll put you right through."

"Thanks." Luis waited for a minute as he was put through to his friend.

-- "Cortez here," a husky, playful voice answered.

"Marky Mark, it's Luis."

-- "Hey, Luis. What's going on?"

"Listen, I need some help."

-- "Sure."

"Okay, I need some information on someone. I was hoping you'd be able to help me out."

Mark scooted himself close to his computer and had his fingers ready to type. --"Shoot."

"See if you can find anything on a Gwen Hotchkiss or a Gwen Winthrop."

-- "Am I looking for an identity or background check?"

"Neither. This is kinda personal. I need to know of any places that she goes to a lot. Homes, friends, things like that. Just draw me up a list, okay?"

Mark was silent for a minute. His computer screen flashed white for a minute and then he got a page full of information. -- "Gotcha. Okay, I have here a ton of newspaper articles about…. her.. her mother… a guy named Ethan Winthrop. Hey, isn't that your brother-in-law?"

"Yeah," Luis admitted. "Listen, just try to find any offenses that she might have. You know, anything. Find out where she might stay. Hotels, summer homes, the works."

-- "You got it, Luis."

"Thanks, buddy. I'll be there in a little bit."

-- "Where you going?"

"I'm gonna check something out and I'll meet you at the station in about an hour. Make sure you have all the info for me by then."

-- "10-4"

Luis hung up with Mark and continued driving to his destination. Within a few short minutes he had reached Winthrop & Ryan, Ethan's practice.

The receptionist at the front wasn't particularly welcoming. But who would be when someone she didn't know just barged in and wanted to go into her boss' office when he wasn't there.

"I'm sorry, sir. I can't let you in." Michelle tried to explain politely without losing her patience.

"Listen," Luis said. "I'm Harmony PD. I need to see Mr. Winthrop's office and I need to speak with his partner. Now."

"I'm sorry. Mr. Winthrop is in Minnesota right now attending a conference and Mr. Ryan is out to lunch."

"Look, this is important. I'm going in there and there's nothing you can do to stop it," Luis declared.

Michelle stood from her chair behind the desk. "Unless you have a warrant, I highly doubt it."

Luis smirked and gave her a vicious look. He needed to get into Ethan's office to see if there was anything that would point him closer finding Gwen. And there was nothing that was going to stop him.

Luis began to walk past Michelle when she wasn't looking, but her eye quickly caught movement.

"Sir! If you try that again, I'm going to have to call security!"

"Well, go ahead then! Most of those guys report to me anyway. It won't matter."

Just as Michelle and Luis began arguing, Matt walked through the glass doors of the lobby at the sight.

"Um… hello. What's going on?" Matt asked patiently.

"Mr. Ryan, this man insists on going into Mr. Winthrop's office. I can't get him to go away. Shall I call security?"

Luis looked over to Matt and showed his badge. "Listen, I'm Lieutenant Luis Lopez-Fitzgerald of the Harmony Police Department. And I'm-"

"Lopez-Fitzgerald? Are you related to Theresa?"

"Yeah, she's my sister."

"Oh. Well, um, what can I do for you?" Matt asked.

"I'd like to talk to you in private if you don't mind."

Matt nodded and led Luis through the hallway into his office. "So, Officer Lopez-Fitzgerald, what's going on? Did I do something? You gonna arrest me?"

"No, I'm here because of Ethan."

"He's not here. He went to a conference-"

"In Minnesota. I know."

"So then, why are you here?"

Luis hesitated before he spoke. "Ethan's missing."

"What do you mean he's missing? Missing from where?"

"I mean that his ex-wife kidnapped him and his holding him, my nephew, and my mother hostage somewhere."

"What! Gwen?"

"Yeah. Ethan never made it to Minnesota. Little Ethan and my mother were kidnapped last night."

"Oh, my, God! I don't… Wait a minute. Surely, you don't think I had anything to do with this?"

"No. I just needed to know if anyone has called here asking for Ethan in the past 48 hours? Anyone suspicious whatsoever?"

"N-" then Matt stopped midword. He reflected back on the one phone call that had sounded rather strange to him.

"Yello?"

-- "Hello? Is this Winthrop and Ryan?" A woman's voice asked.

"Yes it is. This is Matt Ryan. How may I help you?"

-- "Is Mr. Winthrop in, please?"

"No, I'm sorry he's not. He won't be in the office until Monday. He's leaving for a conference in Minnesota this afternoon. Can I take a message?"

-- "Minnesota, you say?"

"Yes, ma'am. Is he expecting your call?"

-- "What part of Minnesota?"

"I believe he said St. Paul." There was silence. "Ma'am, I am Mr. Winthrop's partner and I would be happy to help you if you need."

No one answered.

"Hello?"

"Actually, come to think of it, there was one call that was a little creepy."

"Who was it?" Luis asked, a pad and pencil ready in his hand.

"I'm not sure. It was a woman though." The affirmation of it being a woman almost confirmed any doubts in Luis' mind.

"What did she want?"

"She wanted to speak to Ethan."

"When did she call?"

"The day he left. I tried to ask her if there was something I could do for her instead and the line went dead."

"Did you tell her anything?"

"Like what?"

"Anything. What did you tell her?"

"I told her that he was leaving for Minnesota and he'd be back on Monday. Why?" Luis didn't answer. "She did sound familiar though."

Luis suddenly looked up from his pad and stopped writing. "Familiar?"

"Yeah. I just couldn't place it."

Luis nodded and flapped his pad closed with a flick of his wrist. "Thank you."

Matt was a little confused and still a little perplexed about his partner being kidnapped- and by a woman no less. "Sure."

Luis was about to walk out the door when he turned to Matt again. "Listen, I need you to do something for me."

"Anything to find my partner…"

Luis whispered something in Matt's ear and walked out. He was sure to say goodbye to the pleasant receptionist on his way out.

Luis wasn't quite sure what had driven him to go to Winthrop & Ryan but he had gotten a piece of useful information out of it. He knew that it was Gwen that called that day and obviously had planned Ethan's kidnapping rather quickly. It was one thing to be up against a psycho. It was completely another to be up against a smart psycho.

Luis walked through the door of the station quickly and yelled for Mark.

"Mark!"

Mark came wheeling around the corner in his office chair. "Yep!"

"Hey. Anything?"

"Want a brief?"

"Sure."

"Okay," he said flipping open a file folder of Gwen. "Let's see here. Gwen Hotchkiss-Winthrop: Born in 1979 in Boston, Massachusetts to Rebecca and John Hotchkiss. She lived in Boston until she was five and later moved with her divorced mother back to Harmony, Rebecca's hometown. She attended a private high school in Boston and stayed in the states until she was fifteen. She was shipped off to boarding school in England where she was acclaimed Homecoming Queen for three years in a row and also was given the honor of 'Best Socialite.' By then, she had been dating Ethan Crane (now Ethan Winthrop) for two years. After high school, she attended a privately funded university in London and was a member of her sorority and also became head of the sorority within two years. After she graduated, she returned to Harmony where she later got engaged to the then Ethan Crane. They broke up a year later and she had been connected to a number of brawls with your sister for a while afterward. In 2002 she became pregnant and eventually married Ethan. Gwen later attacked your sister on Los Angeles and put her in a coma. After Gwen was charged and put in jail, she lost her daughter in a fight with an inmate. And that's pretty much where we stand."

"What else?"

"Her father now lives in Boston where he has two homes and a wife and mistress. Rumored anyway."

"Okay… What about summer homes?"

"Nada. The only one that came up was Rebecca Hotchkiss-Crane's family mansion just outside of Harmony. But from what I got, no one ever goes there."

Luis breathed a sigh of frustration. "Damn it! Is that all?"

"I'm afraid so, my friend."

Luis stared off into space for a moment and then turned back to Mark. "Okay, do me a favor. Keep looking for stuff on Gwen. Anything. If her name is in a newspaper article, I wanna know why. Got it?"

"You're the boss."

"Thanks. I'll check back in with you later."

"Where are you off to now?"

"I'm gonna go check on Theresa. Keep me posted," Luis said as he walked out of the station.

"Yep. Ahh… I guess it's back to work for ol' Marky Mark. Great…"

The day had gone by fast against Theresa's expectations. Maybe it was her hope that it would that helped. The thought of her child, her husband, and her mother gone and not knowing where they could be or what could happen to them was killing her. Luis was nice enough to stay the night with her. Poor guy. She had him running all over looking for anything that might help locate the missing. He was exhausted. She could hear him snoring in the bedroom next to her but she couldn't sleep.

When she turned onto the pillow next to her, the one that she never slept on, she smelled Ethan's cologne. Not just his cologne, but his smell. She could almost feel him close now. The vision of him lying there with her, holding her in his arms almost felt real but it was all in her head. It brought tears to her eyes when she finally grasped the fact that she was alone yet again.

The night was going to be long now, she could feel it. Nothing really helped her sleep when she was having insomnia fits. The only thing that got her to relax was chamomile tea. With that thought, Theresa got out of bed and made her way down to the kitchen.

She placed the kettle on the stove and sat at the table, her head bowed trying to close out thoughts that had been plaguing her mind. When she looked up she noticed something on the table that wasn't usually there.

It was a candle.

Pilar had brought it over when she came to watch Little Ethan. It was amazing. Martin had been missing for so many years and still Pilar had hope that one day he'd return to his family.

There was a book of matches next to the colored wax and Theresa ripped one to light the candle. She held the flame to the wick and watched the flame pass from the match. She blew out the match and watched the string of smoke dissipate.

Theresa sat down at the table and stared into the candle, asking for some sort of peace of mind. Of course her thoughts turned to her missing family and she thought of the unresolved note that Gwen had left for her to decode. It was in her robe pocket and she took it out to study it once again.

The words were the same and no more clarity was with her than that afternoon. The riddle continued to haunt her and she pressed her mind for answers.

She held it up and tried to focus. The light of the candle showed through the white paper and that's when she saw it.

The answer had been staring at her the entire time.

And the kettle whistled loudly throughout the kitchen….