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Chapter 3

It was almost three in the afternoon when Natalie put Aiden down in the bed for a nap, the boy was exhausted, he was crying most of the morning and early afternoon, he was hungry, he had been for the past few days but Natalie was to afraid for them to eat, she was so afraid there would be something in the food, she purposely invited the guard, who she found out that his name was Billy. She had invited him to eat with them, she watched him eat the food first and then when it seemed he didn't get sick she and Aiden had eaten. Aiden stopped crying after that and she was thankful, it had been so hard on her the last few days just watching him be hungry. She shook her head, discontinuing her thoughts about how horrible she felt starving him. She shook her head again, this time to knock some sense into it, she had to think about what could be going on here, try and put the facts together and figure out if it was really Darren who had them brought here, and why?

With speaking with Billy although he didn't come right out and say so, it did seem obvious that Darren was behind this, she again asked herself why as she began to get angry, very angry, why would he do this to them? Why!

They were married a little over three years, things were going smoothly, the arrangement they had was fine, he cared about her, she cared about him, neither loved each other but that was exactly as she had wanted it, and Aiden. Darren loved Aiden as if he was his son, although he was never a warm parent he was good to her son, very good to him. So why? She thought again, why? Take us, and bring us here.

There wasn't anything particularly wrong with this place, it was a small house out in the middle of the mountains, it was quiet, there was no one for miles, or at least it seemed to be that way, no one ever came here, no one, the house itself had been set up for them, for Natalie and for Aiden. There were plenty of toys his age appropriate and as Natalie thought about it, all the toys that were here were his favorite toys, like ones from home. There was even Aiden's favorite books, the one's Natalie and Darren read to him every night before bed, thinking about it there was no doubt, no doubt, Darren was behind this. But she still couldn't figure out why he went to all the deception.

John followed Darren to an upscale part of Llanview, not far from Llanfair, Darren drove his Mercedes into the garage and John parked his car in the circular drive, he walked to the front door waiting for Darren to open it.

Darren let John into the home, their home, Darren, Natalie's and his son's.

"Nice place" was all John could muster up saying as he walked into the house. John glanced around for a few minutes and took note of the place, it definitely wasn't a place his Natalie would have considered home, not this fancy place, it just wasn't Natalie, well not his Natalie anyways, maybe it was her now, maybe she wasn't the same person she was back then, maybe this was her and maybe she had been happy, happy with him, how happy could she be? John asked himself as he remembered Bo saying they married for convenience, but? But if that was true at first, why stay with him, for three years, she must have felt something for him, maybe they learned to love each other, a thought John wanted to quickly exit his head, he turned to Darren, who had cleared his throat.

"Agent Mcbain, feel free to look around the house, I have an important Conference call I need to make in my office, it's just down the hall and to the left if you need me" Darren told John as he excused himself, John just nodded and walked into the living room.

John walked right over to the mantle above the fireplace, there were several pictures on it, he took one down and studied it, it was of his son, Aiden, Natalie had called him, it was a good name, he thought as he looked at his child's face, it was like looking into a mirror for John, he looked so much like him, so much that it was scary, he traced Aiden's face with his fingers and then he turned the picture frame over and opened it up, removed the picture and put it in his coat pocket, the pocket that was placed over his heart.

Next John came to a picture of the three of them, a picture that so resembled a post card, a greeting card of sorts, it was perfect, perfectly photographed and she looked amazing in it, she had a beautiful smile on her face in the picture but it didn't quite reach her eyes, he had seen this smile on her before and it was most definitely her faking it smile, to anyone else who didn't know her, who maybe just met her they wouldn't know, but he did.

He took a hold of the frame, the next picture in it was more of a candid shot, it was of Natalie and Aiden, it was her carrying him on her hip, John was still looking at the picture when Darren entered the room.

"He was two in that picture, it's her favorite, she never wanted to put him down, she still carries him a lot although he's getting so big, she refuses to stop, she once said something about never being held as a child, so the more I tell her to put him down, the more she defies me and holds him."

John heard him talk about them, a wave of jealous ran deep thru his body, he should have been the one to be here with her, with them, anger set in a little too and he had to bury those emotions if for only a while longer, now he had to bring them back safely and then he could feel, then he could release his anger, then he could meet his son. Defies he thought, why would he use that term. He noted it, and ignored it for now.

"The file said they were taken from Aiden's bedroom? And it was around 2 am? Why was Natalie in Aiden's room?"

"She sometimes slept in there with him if he was having nightmares, as you are aware from the file I was out of town on a business "

"And you have an airtight alibi, don't you?"

"Are you trying to get at something Agent Mcbain? Do you believe I would have my wife of three years and the son I love kidnapped or even worse killed?"

"I've seen stranger things in my day and you were the one using the word killed, not me, it is a bit odd, no ransom note, no phone call"

"I bet you have seen stranger things Agent by I assure you in this case, it's not the truth, Aiden's room is upstairs second door on the right, If you think you need to check, although I assure you The police Dept did a very through search of it."

" I'll be in my office when you're done" Darren told John as he walked down the hall to his office, John walked up the stairs and towards the second door on the right, he glanced into the first door on the right and he saw it, the master bedroom, their room, the room she shared with her husband, he didn't enter it but the minute he saw the bed the feeling of Jealously and anger returned, he quickly walked pasted it and over to Aiden's room.

John entered Aiden's room and it seemed strange, Aiden had a smaller sized bed, but then there was a full size bed on the other end of the room, did she sleep in this room with him, every night, every night for the last three years? He shook his questions of where Natalie slept and whether she was having relations with her own husband and went to work looking for clues. John finished looking for clues and he found none. He walked back down stairs to see Darren waiting at the bottom of the stairs for him.

"Things aren't adding up, I have a few questions," John told Darren as he reached the bottom of the stairs

"Why? The report says the door was open, that Natalie must not have locked it that night, did she do that a lot?"

"I'm usually the one to lock up for the night, but Natalie is a trusting soul, it is possible she didn't lock the door, I know they said there was no forced entry"

"But it doesn't make sense, why would she take a chance with everything she held dear?"

"Agent Mcbain, Natalie didn't care for any of this, these things weren't important to her"

"I wasn't talking material items, I'm speaking about her child, about Aiden, about our son, whether she's changed or not, Natalie would never take a chance of anything ever happening to something so dear to her she would never put her child in a position where he could be hurt. It doesn't add up, it just doesn't make sense," John told him and he saw Darren's face change a bit

"I think we need to go down to the station, I need to ask you a few more questions, I rather do it there"

"Am I under arrest Agent Mcbain?"

"No, why would you ask that? Did you do something you should be arrested for?"

"If I'm not under arrest then there is no need for me to go to the station, if you have questions regarding to the disappearance of my wife and son, I am more than happy to answer them here, if not have a nice night " Darren told him testy and showed John the door, John left the house knowing, knowing that there was more to this than met the eye, more that Darren wasn't saying.

"It's me, how are they? Good, I'm glad they've eaten, now I need for you to bring them back, tonight, I know, I know they aren't suppose to come back for a few more days, I know this isn't the plan, but I think I've gotten enough sympathy from the community, I should still win the election in a few days, there's a pesky FBI agent that could make things bad for me, worse for the both of us if he figures it out. Bring them home the way you got them out, mild doses of sleeping pills, I'll take care of the rest when you bring them back."

"What? Of course she didn't know anything about this, what did you tell her? Nothing! Are you sure? Did she believe you, yes, good, I'll see you tonight"