Instant Star- Rise Of The Next Generation
Chapter 19- 24 Hours, Part 1
(Author's Note: Hi everyone! I know some of you have really been waiting for this. Sorry for the delay! It's funny how real life obstructs fiction! Plus, I've been having a bit of a "block" with this. I didn't want to put anything up unless and until it was really good! You all have been so patient and deserve something really juicy... hope this fits! Anyway, I want to thank everyone who reviewed and supported me through my "dry" period! Although... the other bit of news is that I think we're coming to the end of this story! Amazing... it's been five months since I started it! You'll have to let me know what to do next... should I write a sequel? I do have an idea or two... but no sequels unless you all say so... Seriously, hope you enjoy this chapter... one of the villains is finally identified...)
Chapter 19- 24 Hours, Part 1
Yet another tense, miserable day passed for the Quincy family. For Tommy, Jude and Patrick the situation had gone beyond intolerable. Not only had the police not yet had any real leads for them, the press was now aware of the situation. Reporters now lurked outside their home twenty four hours a day, hoping for a scoop.
Their ruthless invasion disgusted Jude. She shook her head.
"I mean, it's not like there's even anything to tell them. Unfortunately! Why can't they just go away! Leave us alone!"
"I know." Tommy replied, equally pissed. "I tried to kick them out! They won't go! And when they do, they just come back!"
"How ironic!" Jude snorted bitterly. "You'd think it would help! That people knowing about the kidnapping would mean that someone would know something. Someone would know where they are! Someone could help!"
Tommy nodded in agreement, but added sadly.
"Except, like Detective Peterson said, they are probably locked up somewhere secure now."
"If they are even alive!" Jude screamed hysterically. "I can't stand it! Why haven't we heard anything yet?"
"Again, the detective said it would probably be a couple of days before we heard anything. The kidnappers want us to go crazy with worry. So we'll do anything. Pay any price!"
"I'd say they succeeded!" Jude exploded.
"Yeah" Tommy agreed fully.
"And would you just look at that!" Jude gestured outside, towards the growing crowd of people.
"We're prisoners in our own home! Can't even step outside without being ambushed! Can't even go get the mail!"
"And we've got to..." Tommy said thoughtfully, realizing what it could contain. He turned decisively to his distraught wife.
"Jude, cover me. I'm going out there..."
Dodging swarming reporters with his every step, Tommy dashed quickly to the mailbox and returned clutching several items.
"Bill, bill, junk, junk... Magazine..." he sighed, carefully setting down the copy of "Rolling Stone", Ruby's favorite reading material.
"What's this one?" Jude asked, noticing a plain manilla envelope with just their names and address typed on it.
"There's no return address..." she added, with trepidation.
"Let's see..." Tommy said, carefully tearing it open, and then removing a CD, wrapped in a sheet of plain white paper. Automatically, his heart began to pound and his pupils dilated with rage.
"Oh, my..." Jude said, unable to finish her sentence as the nausea consumed her and the bile rose in her throat.
Together, they read the note.
"As you can see from this CD... I have your daughter... So far, she and her friend are fine. They will stay that way, if you cooperate..."
"You will know what that involves soon enough..."
"24 hours..."
Jude quickly put the CD into the stereo and began crying at the sound of Ruby's and Stacie's frightened voices.
"Where are we..."
"Two creeps nabbed us... I'm guessing they brought us here..."
"So, there's nothing we can do?"
"Maybe not..."
"I'm so scared, Ruby..."
"Me, too..."
"We could die..."
"No!" Jude screamed automatically.
"I'm calling the detective. Right now!" Tommy said, reassuringly.
Twenty minutes later, Detective Peterson arrived at their house in his unmarked car. Chris accompanying him.
"Ok. Let's see it." he demanded without preamble. Tommy instantly handed over the letter, CD and envelope.
The detective studied them gravely.
"Standard office supply stuff... the paper, the envelope, the typing could come from anywhere. But we'll take it to the lab. Run the usual tests, fingerprints, check the seal for DNA, stuff like that. The CD will be helpful. We'll compare it to the other one... see if they were made on the same machine."
"Do you have any other news?" Jude asked hopefully.
"No. Not yet. I'm really sorry, Mrs. Quincy. We checked Ms. Sloan's car for evidence, but found none. As you know, we questioned everyone at your record company as well as at Lorenzo's. No one seems to know anything. We're trying to trace the missing money, but haven't had any success there either. Whoever pulled that scam is a real computer pro! Knew just how to do it."
"And make the money impossible to find!" Tommy burst out, full of rage and pain.
"No, Mr. Quincy. Not impossible. Just much harder. And unfortunately, it takes more time."
"Time! This is my daughter you're talking about! My 14 year old daughter! And her friend! Who knows what's going on there!" Tommy continued to erupt.
"We know that, Mr. Quincy. We are doing as much as we can, as quickly as we can..."
"Maybe that's just not good enough!" Tommy shouted at the detective, completely losing his temper.
"Tommy." Jude said softly, lacing her long, slender fingers through his. Her firm, but comforting grip relaxed him slightly.
"I'm sorry." he said to the police officer.
"I understand. Anyway, there's still plenty more things for us to do. And we will."
"Such as?" Tommy asked, needing more information.
"Well, we've got this second CD to check out now. We'll look into it. See if it was made by the same machines that produced the first one. We were able to decipher the source code of the machine that made that first CD. However, unfortunately, we haven't managed to trace the owner of that machine yet."
"That's strange. Those machines are expensive. Not many people have them." Jude mused.
"True, Mrs. Quincy. But again, it's like whoever did this, really knew how. Like with the money, there's no clear trail. The person paid cash, and left a fake address with the seller. Never registered a warranty on the product..."
"So, it's hopeless..." Jude sighed.
"Maybe from that angle. But not altogether. And we're gonna keep trying till we crack it!" Detective Peterson promised, surveying the distraught celebrity couple.
"I see you are getting plenty of media attention. All the TV stations and newspapers are covering the story. And set up hotlines for leads."
"Lot of good that seems to be doing us!" Jude scoffed angrily.
"I realize it's aggravating for you. However, they've gotten plenty of calls. Unfortunately, none of them have been real. A lot of cranks and scam artists out there..."
"Tell me about it!" she replied.
"But we can eliminate those pretty fast. And one of them could eventually be the real thing."
"So? We just wait for that! Now what!" Tommy demanded roughly
"We take the letter and the CD back with us and work on it. We wait to see what the kidnapper wants next. Clearly, he'll be telling you that soon! Then we set up a plan to nail the creep and recover your daughter and her friend."
"Alive?" Jude couldn't help asking.
"Based on all this, I'd say that's most possible. "
Jude exhaled in relief.
"Call as soon as your hear anything else." Detective Peterson instructed, exiting the house with Chris at his heels.
Flashbulbs popped and reporters futilely hollered questions; they were ignored as the police drove away.
Jude collapsed, exhausted on the couch.
"I can't move..." she whispered. "Can't think. Can't breathe..."
"Sweetheart..." Tommy's voice trailed off helplessly. He didn't know what to say. He was equally terrified. He couldn't promise her anything.
All they could do was pray, as they continued waiting.
"24 hours" they thought wordlessly.
A few miles away, another person worried about the missing girls. He rose from his chair and paced restlessly, struggling with a crisis of conscience.
"It was never supposed to be like this..." he thought, guiltily.
"I was gonna make some easy money. No one was supposed to get hurt... Ruby wasn't supposed to be kidnapped... And Stacie wasn't supposed to have anything to do with it at all...
"What's going to happen to them now? If they die, it's my fault..."
The young man sat down again. Selfish by nature and spoiled, it was completely unlike him to accept responsibility for his own actions, let alone other people's.
"He's completely out of control... He's crazy...", the man thought of his partner.
"It's not supposed to be like this..." he repeated to himself.
"But what can I do? What should I do? If I tell anyone, I get in trouble too. He'll make sure of that. I'm an accomplice... I could end up in jail... I don't want that..."
"I do care about both those girls... I really do... I don't want them hurt or killed... And he's capable of that..."
"But Chaz will kill me if he finds out that I... Oh, crap!"
"Maybe it won't be so bad..." he tried to rationalize.
"Maybe Quincy will just have to pay a little money and everything will be okay. He's rich! He can afford it!"
"It's not gonna be like that and you know it!" his conscience scolded. "That guy who paid you is completely ruthless! He wants the Quincy's destroyed! Nothing less will satisfy him!"
"He'll gladly kill both Ruby and Stacie." Justin Blackburn finally concluded, completely horrified.
"But what can I do to stop him?
Completely freaked out, he desperately racked his brain, trying to formulate a plan that would save himself as well as the girls.
In a third home, another person awaited news on the kidnaping. Blonde and beautiful like her daughter, Amanda Sloan's blue eyes were totally bloodshot and her creamy skin ashen as she waited alone in her luxurious house. Notification of Stacie's kidnapping had taken a full day to reach her. However, once it had, she immediately abandoned her rich and powerful lover and their Hollywood plans to rush back to Toronto as quickly as possible. No good news waited for her there. Nor was there anyone there for her to share this agonizing time with.
"Alone" she thought yet again.
"Stacie is... has always been... all I have." she realized. The thought chilled her.
"Maybe I should have paid more attention... Spent more time with her... Maybe this wouldn't have happened..." she mused regretfully.
"But what else can I do? We had to make it, on our own... This was the only way I knew... The only way we could..."
"Please just let her be okay..." Amanda Sloan wished fervently.
Tommy, Jude and Patrick echoed those sentiments infinitely as they waited the mandated 24 hours, believing they would hear from the kidnappers then. The time passed endlessly, as the police checked and re-checked the surveillance on their phone, believing that this contact would be made in such a fashion, rather than in the less personal and direct manner of a letter. This assumption proved correct. At 1:13 PM, the phone rang. Tommy answered it, as he had all phone calls since Ruby disappeared.
"Quincy residence." he said carefully, putting the call on speaker so his family and Detective Peterson could hear it.
"Little Tommy Q? I'd know that voice anywhere... Still weak!"
"Who is this?" Tommy demanded harshly.
"You know who I am. You know who I've got. Even you ain't that stupid! The only thing you don't know is what I want."
"Yeah! What the hell do you want?" Tommy snapped.
"You always were a real pain in the ass! Pushy bastard! Real annoying! And the cops! Real smart... That wife of yours never could keep her mouth shut..."
"Shut up!" Tommy barked.
"Don't give me no orders, boy! This ain't Q-Records! You always were a dumb kid! No education. Got by on your pretty face and a tiny bit of talent..."
"What the hell do you want?"
"Five million dollars." the man smiled.
"That's insane... We don't..."
"You will. You'll get it! Or your daughter does, and Stacie. You'll never see your little Ruby jewel again. So get busy!" the man demanded.
Tommy stood there, jaw twitching, too irate and terrified to speak.
"24 hours. I'll let you know then exactly where to deliver the money. You will then send it there within an hour..."
"What if that's impossible?' Tommy demanded, regaining his equilibrium.
"Make it happen!" his nemesis snapped arrogantly, then continued.
"Of course, we could always consider an alternate plan. I could ask that Jude deliver the money to me personally. She really is a beautiful woman... I bet she could make me very happy..." the man leered suggestively.
"That is completely unacceptable!" Tommy countered.
"Listen, boy. Like I said, you don't make the rules here. I do. Maybe I will want Jude... But maybe you're right. Maybe I don't need her. Not when your daughter is already here... Maybe she'll do just fine..."
"What the hell are you talking about... If you touch her..." Tommy threatened.
"Use your imagination, fool! You and your family will do everything I want...Just get my money ready! 24 hours!"
The phone clicked off.
Tommy approached Jude who was curled up in a ball on the couch. He laid his hands on hers which were ice cold and shaking uncontrollably, as was her whole body.
"He can't... he can't..."
"I'll kill him! I'll kill him with my bare hands!" Tommy vowed.
"I'll help!" Patrick concurred.
"Hopefully, that won't be necessary!" Detective Peterson said. "We'll trace the call. Analyze the tape... That should get us closer to catching this creep!"
"Please" Jude said weakly.
"Ok. Here's what we're gonna do next to bust them." the detective said, outlining his plan.
Up on the hill, the man again uncorked his brandy and toasted his success.
"Got em' just where I want em' Finally!" he cheered.
His "talk" with Tommy that afternoon had finally brought him to a decision as to the final fate of the girls.
"Quincy still is a total bastard! Clearly I can't let Ruby return home! That would just make him and Jude too freaking happy!"
"Besides... who says I can't collect the money anyway... Do that first.. Make em' think everything's gonna be fine... Then..."
"The Sloan girl's worth a few million too! This will set me up! Make up for everything Quincy's cost me..."
Satisfied, he drained his glass.
The man from the wedding wasn't the only one plotting. After spending an agonizing day and night contemplating all his options, Justin Blackburn also reached a decision.
"There's only one way out of this..." he finally realized, with considerable difficulty.
"I need to talk to Chaz... Deal with this head on..."
With trepidation, he left his room to seek his father.
(Author's Note: Well? Don't keep me in suspense... you guys like?)