Chapter 14
I Am Emma Swan
By the time Neal's phone rang he was making a turn towards the estate on the other side of the island. Seeing who it was from he answered it.
"Tell me good news, Hatt."
"It seems Ms. Mills is with the sheriff right now."
"Yeah? That was fast, is the kid with her?"
"Nope, kid is not with her."
"Do you know where he is?"
"Yup, he's here at the diner chatting up the waitress."
"Keep him there, I'm on my way."
Regina walked down the block to the sheriff's office and entered the building, she greeted the receptionist but before she asked to see the sheriff, a tall man with brown hair, pale blue eyes and a scar on his neck came out from his office.
"Well, look'it here, the infamous Regina Mills," Booth acknowledged with a dip of his hat. "I was just talking about you with another Storybrooke resident. I think you and I need to talk about your son, Ms. Mills."
"Oh? And how is it you know me or my son?" Regina asked.
"As I said, you're infamous and I like to get to know the citizens of my town, even if they are just here for the summertime." He told her, "Why don't we step into my office?"
Regina followed the man and sat down in the chair in front of the desk. Taking a quick look around the room she noticed pictures of the man with friends on what looked like hunting and fishing trips. The desk was a tidy mess with files and take out coffee cups most likely from the diner.
The sheriff was taking his time sitting in his chair; he pushed the file folders off to the side and then looked up at Regina, "It's come to my attention that your son has been trespassin' on the Cassidy estate."
"The Spencer estate not Cassidy."
"Right, well Mr. Cassidy came to me today to complain about your son being on the estate a number of times when he was told not to go back there and yet he was seen on the property."
"Is Mr. Cassidy positive it was Henry? I mean there are a lot of kids in this town how can he be so sure?" Regina questioned folding her arms in front of her.
"He said it was the Mills boy."
"That's it? No proof? Are you being serious with this?"
August Booth was a patient man, but he didn't like to be questioned especially with police business and this woman in front of him was pushing all of his buttons. "The man said it was your son."
"So that's it? Is this how you do police work? Take one person's word over another? How did you manage to become sheriff with an attitude like that? Innocent until proven guilty, surely you must know that much? Do you even have the proper credentials to be in the police service? Or are you just good buddies with Neal Cassidy and you're doing his bidding?"
"Now look Ms. Mills, you are walking a fine line here." He warned.
Regina laughed and then stood up, "Are you kidding me? How about you, oh I don't know actually do your job and investigate and I think instead of looking at me or my son you should look into Neal Cassidy. Good day sheriff."
She quickly left the office and was walking back towards the diner when she saw Neal Cassidy pull up in front of it. She gasped realizing Henry was in there and sent him a text to go out the back, she would meet him there.
Emma woke from a fitful sleep wishing this nightmare was just that but it wasn't it was real. She got up and got ready for the day, her mind seemed clearer but she still had most of Judith's memories and not her own. She wondered if she'd ever get her memories back, she had no idea what they'd been drugging her with. Her brain could be fried. "Fuck."
When she finished her shower and got dressed, her more than likely drugged piping hot breakfast was waiting for her but Mary Margaret wasn't there thankfully. She ate the Mill's food and tucked the others away out of sight. She might need a new hiding place because Mary Margaret was soon due to dust and clean the room.
She was eager to go for another walk; she wanted to get down to the beach. It must be the way Henry was coming in because there was always sand on the floor after he's left. Emma was standing by the wardrobe when Mary Margaret comes back.
"Good morning, Judith my you look wonderful today. You colour is coming back and you look so much better."
"Thanks Mary Margaret, I do feel better. Y'know, I would love to go down to the beach today, is that possible? I mean there must be a walkway or something to go down there."
"I think that's a wonderful idea, Judith! I'll take your dishes to the kitchen and I'll meet you in the foyer."
For a split-second Emma thought about running. She was alone and able to walk freely, she bit her lip in thought and made her way down the staircase. She looked around but didn't see or hear anyone nearby so she opened the front door and stepped outside.
She took in a deep breath; the fresh air felt good in her lungs and the sun felt so warm on her face. She could see the end of the driveway and the gates across it. "They're probably locked."
"There you are Judith! I thought I lost you for mo."
Emma rolled her eyes at the pesky woman's speech but had a huge smile for her when she turned to face her.
"Here I am, I was just checking to see what it was like outside, cool or warm I didn't know if I should have a cardigan or not."
"Well, it's a good thing I'm here, because I brought one just in case it's chilly down by the water."
"You're just too good to me Mary Margaret, shall we go?"
"We shall, I also brought some snacks in case we get the munchies."
Emma smiled and thought to herself, 'yeah not gonna eat that at all.'
"Yup, just too good to me."
The beach was small but nice all the same, it was private to the estate, no one could get down here unless they got through the front gates or over the wall that lined their property. Emma wondered how Henry and now Regina managed to do it and not get caught.
Emma stared out at the water wishing her memories would come back. She knew that this was not her home, but staring out at the sea she felt at home. Had things been different she might have loved living here even if she had yet to see the town. And well Regina and Henry live here in the summer at least, so yeah, she would most definitely like it here.
"Judith, I think we should go back, we've been here quite some time and it's getting warmer. I didn't bring sunscreen and you're looking a little flushed."
"Wow time flies when you're enjoying yourself, huh? I guess you're right, we should head back in. Maybe we can come back later."
"When we get back, I'll get your lunch you must be famished by now, you didn't eat any of the snacks I brought."
When Emma got back to her room, she took a quick shower to get rid of the sand that ended up in places it shouldn't have. She waited for Mary Margaret to bring her food, she had asked to eat in her room today hoping Regina and Henry would come back for her. As the day went on unfortunately, she heard nothing from the Mills family. Emma worried that they got caught trying to get onto the property.
Archie was relieved to finally get back to his hotel room, he'd spent most of the day at the police station. Earlier he did all he could do to convince Leroy to go to the police with his information about the murdered woman, and after copious amounts of food, and beer he finally agreed. Once the man met with the detectives on the case, Archie informed the detectives of his own investigation of Emma Swan.
Leroy told them everything he had told Archie and gave a description of the other two people. They had him look through police photos of known criminals and then brought in a sketch artist. Archie provided them with the information he obtained over the months with his search for Emma Swan.
Sitting down at the table in the corner of his room, he unplugged his personal phone to check his messages. He started with an older message he received shortly after his started this job. It was from Judith; he listened to it every day. "…I know you don't like him but he's my husband now. I've made my bed as they say. I'm so sorry Archie."
He hasn't heard from her since. He has sent many messages over the weeks with no replies. She stopped all communication with him. He tried not to think that maybe their friendship might be over.
He saved it again and then went through the others. Finally, he had a few from Regina's number. The first voice message was to let him know that they arrived in Storybrooke and missed his presence. The next asked when he was coming back, that was Henry asking. The third, Regina sounded stressed, and she thought that something was going on at the estate.
"Archie, its Regina again, listen I think there's something going with Judith, can you call me right away? Please?"
"Archie, I don't know how to say this, but there's an imposter posing as Judith and they're drugging this poor woman. We think her name is Emma Swan. We don't know what they've done with Judith. You need to get back here now, please Archie."
Henry made a bee line to the counter in the diner and asked Ruby if it was okay to go out the back, she loved the kid, so she said yes and took him to the kitchen.
He ran out the back door and his mom was waiting for him next to her car. "What's going on?"
"No time, just get in we have to get out of here."
Once the two were driving away from the diner, Regina told Henry what happened with the sheriff and seeing Neal arriving at the diner. She didn't say it out loud, but both knew Neal was there for Henry.
"This is way over our heads Henry, and I don't know who to talk to or to trust."
"What are we going to do?"
"We're going to get Emma and get out of this town."
She didn't drive back to their house; she didn't feel safe there now after the night before and the light she saw in the wooded area. She drove out towards the end of the island near the estate but parked partially hidden from knowing eyes. She wanted to wait until it got dark, but she was afraid harm would come to Emma if they did. They walked back to the property to the easiest point of climbing the stone wall that lined it and then down to the beach to get inside.
Emma had been drifting in and out of sleep most of the afternoon. The fresh air and the lack of sleep the night before had tired her out. She would dream of a dirty bar and an angry looking man and then in another she would see Neal's face up close trying to kiss her. She woke up afraid when that happened.
She wondered sometimes if that was a dream. She felt him staring at her when she was in the library or when they would eat dinner together. She'd been lucky that he didn't want her to be with him in that way. She knew deep down that she didn't like him or any man for that matter, that had been evident the moment she saw Regina's picture in her book.
Lost in thought she heard something, she turned her head and watched as the wardrobe slid open enough for Henry and Regina to come through.
"Thank God, I thought something happened to you two." Emma smiled when she saw them but the look on their faces told her something was wrong. "What happened, what's going on?"
"We need to get you out of her and now." Regina said reaching her hand out for the blonde woman. "I think Neal tried to get Henry today and I think he's got the sheriff in his pocket, so we need to get out of town."
"Okay, okay let's go, I've been trying to open the wardrobe all day to get out of here."
Henry squeezed through first then Emma and Regina behind her. But before she could get all the way through a hand grabbed her arm roughly and pulled her back.
