Chapter Seventeen
"Is everything all right, Nancy?" Frank inquired skeptically as he handed her one of the cups. She graciously took it then held the open cup to her nose, taking in the aromatic coffee. When Frank cleared his throat, Nancy looked up at his expectant face.
"I'm fine, Frank," she finally muttered shrugging off his look.
Frank didn't believe her for one bit but he couldn't ask her anything for the door swung open Joe walked in with Vanessa right behind him. The younger Hardy brother looked like he just tumbled out of bed, his hair disheveled and a scowl etched upon his face while Vanessa looked pleasant and happy.
"What's up with you?" Frank asked watching his brother. Joe went over to the window sill and leaned against it, his arms folded in front of him.
"Oh, he's just grouchy because he had to get up," Vanessa smirked.
"You try sleeping with this damn thing on your arm and see how you like it!" Joe growled glaring at her. "It's itchy as hell!"
"Well, you did stand up to a killer, babe," she said lightly trying to make him feel better. Joe scoffed and rolled his eyes. Vanessa leaned toward Frank. "Even if it was a stupid thing to do."
"I heard that."
"What are you guys talking about?" Fenton asked, walking into the room as he pushed Laura's wheelchair.
"Nothing," Joe muttered.
"Joe's just mad that he couldn't get his beauty rest," Frank snickered. Joe took a swipe at him but he ducked at the last minute.
"Dad, why did you want us here so early?" Joe demanded. "I could have used at least another hour or so of sleep!"
"It's nine in the morning, Joe," Fenton said calmly. "I think you can handle it."
"How are you doing, Mrs. Hardy?" Nancy asked though Joe continued to grumble inaudibly.
"I'm doing much better, Nancy," Laura smiled. "A little uncomfortable but better. Thank you."
"I know what you mean about being uncomfortable," the young woman laughed shifting slightly. "I would love to get out of this bed but they won't let me."
"And for good reason, Nan," Frank replied. "The doctor doesn't want you to re-injure yourself before you leave in a few days. You have to keep that leg stable for a while. You know that."
"I know," she pouted, "but it would be nice to shower or at least use the bathroom on my own."
"Yeah," Joe piped up shaking his head, "not really something I wanted to visualize."
"All in good time, dear," Laura patted her hand. She glared at Joe who shrank back a little.
"Oh, good, you're all here," replied a voice. They all turned to see Durham, Brady, and two others walk into the room.
"Reluctantly," mumbled Joe. Vanessa nudged him and he straightened up.
"Thank you all for meeting us here," Chief Durham stated professionally.
"What is going on anyway?" Fenton inquired curiously. "What is it that you wanted to say that couldn't be said at the station?"
"Well, I wanted to get everyone together so we wouldn't have to repeat ourselves," the lawman explained then looked around at the group. "Where's Mr. Drew?"
"Dad took a redeye this morning," Nancy answered. "He had to be in court early. I thought you knew that."
"Obviously not," he grumbled turning toward the two people standing near the door. The woman nodded as if to say that it was okay then Durham turned back to the group once more. "We'll make sure he gets this information as well. Let me introduce you to the people who asked you to come here today. This is Special Agent Cassidy Aarons and Special Agent Jordan Spritzer. They are a part of the FBI team investigating the Bridal Killer."
Frank eyed the agents skeptically. If there was one thing he learned from his father it was his intuition and he had a feeling they were there for another reason. He stood silently listening to Durham speak while also taking in the agents themselves.
Agent Aarons seemed to be the senior agent of the two though she looked fairly young. Only her intense green eyes gave away her age as she glanced at each person in the room. Her crisp, black suit, black pumps, and petite stature reminded him of Scully from The X-Files. Frank figured that although Agent Aarons looked to be weak, she was not a woman to mess with.
Agent Spritzer, on the other hand, was young, looking more like a male model than an FBI agent. His pompadour haircut and dazzling smile probably made women swoon and the burgundy suit with slim black tie made him look dapper. The only thing that stood out about Spritzer was the gun hidden in his jacket that was larger than it should have been.
"I'm sure you're all wondering why we requested to see you today," Aarons began, her voice firm. "Right after the incident at the hotel yesterday morning, our agents began going through the hotel room Mr. Jones was using and found some very interesting evidence that we thought you might like to know about."
"He was staying at the same hotel we were at?" Laura asked alarmed. She held onto Fenton's good hand and he tenderly squeezed it. "How did you know he was registered there?"
"We spoke with the hotel manager who confirmed it," the agent answered. "He used the name Waylon Jones to check in but we have reason to believe that this was just another alias."
"So, Waylon Jones was not his real name?" Fenton asked intrigued by how quickly the FBI was able to get the information.
"Yes," Agent Spritzer nodded pulling out a small notebook. He ran his fingers through his hair before he continued. "We ran his fingerprints through IAFIS and it came up pretty quickly. His real name was Marcus Waylon Jessup and there was a warrant for his arrest in Georgia."
"What for?"
"Mainly we wanted him for questioning but some of the things he possibly did was aiding and abetting, conspiracy to commit grand larceny, the list goes on and on."
"But how is it that he got away with it?" Nancy asked, shifting her body again to get comfortable. "Those particular charges don't seem like things that would make someone commit murder multiple times."
"You're right, Ms. Drew," Agent Aarons replied. "We're looking into what really happened. There was a couple in Georgia who committed several crimes including larceny and embezzlement. They conned older couples and single women out of millions of dollars that was never found. Marcus Jessup was their son. Like I said, the FBI wanted him for questioning to see if he knew where the money went but he split town the moment he was released out on bail. His parents weren't so lucky. They were denied bail especially since the last person they stole from committed suicide. The woman's family sued the Jessups as well. With their son gone though, there was no way to know where the money was since the Jessups weren't talking.
"Marcus Waylon Jessup Sr. eventually got 25 to life while his wife, Regina Jessup, got 20 years," the agent continued. "Six months after Jessup Sr. went to prison, another inmate murdered him. Apparently, one of the Jessup's victims was the man's mother. When Regina found out about her beloved husband, she stole a razor blade from the infirmary and was later found in her cell with her wrists slit open. This happened about fifteen years ago. Jessup Jr. was 17 at the time which was why he had gotten bail. Even though he was still a minor, the district attorney wanted him to be tried as an adult. The kid must have found out about it and skipped town."
"Do you know where he went from there?" Fenton asked. That particular question was roaming around the minds of the others in the room as well.
"Well, we're going after the whole Jasper Wilkes angle," Agent Spritzer said. "We have his family and his wife's family cooperating with us. There was a third party in this little triangle but as of right now we only know that his name was Waylon Mars. Once we get confirmation that he was indeed Waylon Jones we'll let you know."
"Are there any clues as to where Jasper Wilkes and his wife were when they disappeared?"
"Wilkes' cousin said they went to the Poconos to elope. She also stated that a Gloria Stanton contacted her two days ago asking her about Jasper Wilkes."
Joe sat up at this news and exchanged glances with Frank. "That would explain the yearbook we found on the table at the Stanton's!" he cried. "They confronted him and…"
"It got them killed," Aarons nodded grimly. "They should have called the police but I don't think they expected their guest was the Bridal Killer. Their only suspicion was the fact that he wasn't Jasper Wilkes. Mrs. Stanton was sorority sisters with someone with the last name of Wilkes. Jasper Wilkes' cousin was the daughter of the sorority sister, not him. We believe Mrs. Stanton called Ms. Wilkes to inquire about Jasper and found out the truth. Whitney and Charlie Stanton have been visited already about the development. Ms. Stanton gave us some more information about the photos she found. With that information, we searched more of Jones' belongings to see if there was anything more he had. His laptop has also been confiscated and is being searched as we speak."
"Was there any reason as to why he chose his victims?" Parker asked solemnly. "I mean, why would he choose Candace and not someone else after all this time?"
Aarons sighed and looked apologetically at him. "Mr. Hawkley, I believe that you are the reason as to why Ms. Miller was chosen."
"Okay…that's creepy."
"What Agent Aarons saying, Parker," Fenton replied knowingly, "is that it's because of your status that Candace was chosen. Your father is a senator and you're a young, up-and-coming politician. If he wanted notoriety, there you have it. My question is why he took several months off before coming after Candace? He could have easily gone after more brides since December."
"We have a theory on that too," Aarons nodded. She pulled out a manila folder and handed it to Fenton. Joe looked over his father's shoulder, his mouth dropping open. He looked over at Frank who was startled by the attention.
"What?" Frank asked looking nervously around.
"This, Frank," Fenton said solemnly. He passed a photo to him and Frank's face went red with anger.
"What the hell?" he cried looking back at his father then to the agents.
Nancy grabbed the photo from him though she blushed instead.
"Do you know when that was?" Aarons asked.
"Well, yeah," Frank growled. "It was right after we were in upstate New York for the conference."
"We never made it to that conference," Nancy pointed out.
"I know that but I didn't want to even say that creepy ass place we were at," he mumbled. "After it all happened, Nancy and I went to the city to get away from everyone and went to dinner and a movie."
Nancy looked back at the photo again, remembering that night. It was the first night they had an opportunity to get away and actually their first official date. The fact that someone had taken their picture and invaded that moment sent a shiver down her spine. The photo itself was of them looking longingly into each other's eyes. Then something else hit her. She remembered walking by the small shop selling TVs, with a news broadcast about another bride being found.
"It was right after they found the last victim," Nancy stated looking back at Aarons. She glanced up at Frank who had a confused look on his face. "We walked by that store selling TVs, remember? There was a newscast on about a young bride who was found dead. It was his last victim before going after Candace. But what would we have to do with that?"
"This is all speculation right at the moment," Agent Aarons replied grimly, taking back the photo and folder. "There could be a number of reasons as to why Jones went after Ms. Miller. He took it to the grave so we'll never really know the absolute truth. But we did find an old newspaper dating back to December of last year that had several engagement announcements circled but only one wasn't crossed off."
"Ours," Parker said softly. The agent nodded. Parker pulled Candace closer, wrapping his arm around her body, thankful that she was still with him.
"We think that since there was a connection between you all that the Bridal Killer went after it," Spritzer stated. "Almost like a sign of some sort. Ms. Drew, didn't you state that you saw him at some point in Chicago a few months back?"
"Yeah, he was taking pictures of me along with a few friends while we were out shopping one day," Nancy explained. "We told him to stop but he denied that he was taking our pictures. When I threatened to call the police, he ran off. That was the last time I saw him until a few days ago."
"Did any of you see or notice someone like Jones in Bayport?" the agent asked staring at the Hardys. Each one of them shook their heads silently. He looked to Durham. "Chief?"
"Jones has been in Milford Point for the past three months at least," Durham nodded. "He was at every crime scene and he attended every press conference including the one at the Hawkley mansion on Saturday. I remember seeing him there but at that moment, we didn't know he was a suspect then."
"And that's understandable," Aarons replied. "There was no way of knowing who this guy was with all of the disguises he was able to make."
"How was he able to do that anyway?" Brady asked. "It just doesn't sound normal."
"No, it doesn't," she answered. "Marcus Jessup Sr. was an actor at one point while his wife, Regina, was a make-up artist. When they couldn't hit it big they decided to go a different route. We found a make-up case among Waylon Jones' belongings. Her name was written on the inside. He must have been taught by his mother on how to change his looks. Waylon Jones must have been quite good at it if he was able to fool everyone."
"You got that right," muttered Parker. "I could have sworn he was Mr. Hardy when he came through the hospital. He looked so much like him but there was something off. Height…or something. I don't know what it was."
"I felt the same way when he looked like Parker," Candace replied shivering. Parker held her closer to him. "It was creepy. He…he looked so much like him. I don't know why he wanted me to think it was you."
"Maybe to have you give up hope," Frank suggested. "He sent that photo of Nancy to her father knowing that she was still alive. Hope was what kept us going every second that you and Nancy were gone. That's why Jones disguised himself as Parker…at least that's my thoughts."
"I agree, Frank," Fenton nodded. "Hope and faith are the only things that people have in dire situations. It's part of what keeps people going in life. When Pandora opened the box, all the evils of the world were released with exception to Hope. You lose that and you lose everything. But you also need to keep your faith. Faith that everything will turn out okay in the end and faith in God. No matter what happened this weekend, we tried our best to keep the faith and we got our loved ones back. I think our prayers were answered."
"Man, you are the luckiest family I ever met," Durham chuckled with a shake of his head. He turned to the agents. "Is there anything else that you need to tell us?"
"No, but we will keep in touch," Aarons smiled though Spritzer gave her a strange look. Fenton caught it then glanced at Frank and Joe. They all had the same idea: something was up. "I'm glad that Ms. Miller and Ms. Drew are okay. That is what matters most, right? If you have any questions and any new thoughts on the case, please contact us."
The two agents said their farewells then left the room. Chief Durham and Brady stayed behind briefly before leaving as well.
"Wait, Detective Brady," Fenton stated rushing up to the two policemen just outside Nancy's room. He held out his hand and smiled. "Thank you…for saving my life."
"It's my job, Mr. Hardy," Brady shrugged.
"No, I underestimated you," he shook his head. "I thought you were negligent and at one point, thought you were the killer or at least in on it. I'm sorry."
The detective sighed deeply. "It's all right. I should not have neglected my duties and I understand why you thought the way you did. I would have too. I'm sorry I wasn't there…"
"But your son is more important," Fenton smiled. "I get it. So are mine. There are times that you need to make tough decisions about what to do but it also shows what you have in your heart. You're a good man, Brady. Don't ever think that choosing to keep your son safe as a sign of weakness."
"Thanks, Mr. Hardy," Brady smiled. He waved as he walked away leaving Durham behind with Fenton.
"I told you he was a good man," the chief muttered.
Fenton chuckled. "He sure is."
"Do you believe everything the FBI just said?"
"Absolutely not. That's the other reason why I left the room. They're keeping something from us and I intend to find out what."
"Dad?" Fenton turned to see Frank and Joe standing behind them.
"What's up, boys?"
"We want to know why the FBI didn't tell us everything," Frank stated. Joe nodded in agreement.
"You and me both," Fenton said. He looked down the hall to see the agents waiting at the elevator. "Let's go find out."
The three Hardys and Chief Durham went quickly down the hall just as the elevator doors opened for Agents Aarons and Spritzer. Fenton put his arm in between the elevator doors before they could close. Once they realized the elevator didn't move, the agents looked up to see the four men standing before them.
"Mr. Hardy!" cried Agent Aarons in surprise. "What's wrong?"
"What aren't you telling us?" he demanded stepping into the elevator. The doors closed and the elevator descended in silence as Fenton stared down the two agents.
"You might as well tell them," Spritzer replied glancing at Aarons. "I told you they wouldn't stop until they knew everything."
"Tell us what?" Frank asked his heart pounding.
Aarons slumped her shoulders in defeat then looked up at the others. "We have some intel that might pertain to another case," she finally said. "But we don't know for sure about it. It just came to light about an hour ago after I already called for the meeting."
"What is it about?"
"The photos that were taken over the course of the last few months," Spritzer continued looking relieved that he could say something, "they were sent to an email address. We can't be sure who it belongs to because it's blocked."
"So?" Durham shrugged. "What does that have to do with the Bridal Killer? Maybe he was sending it to another email for safe keeping or something."
"It's not that simple, Chief Durham," Aarons stated. "We do know that the email is not for someone here in the states. It's anonymous…a ghost."
Fenton listened to everything the agents were revealing, his mind working in overdrive. Then a thought popped into his head and his heart sank. He prayed he wasn't correct but he had a feeling as to who the email belonged to. The elevator doors opened into the lobby and the agents hurried out.
"Why didn't you say something in the room?" Fenton demanded as he followed them. "If this is nothing then why keep it a secret?"
"We weren't keeping it a secret, Mr. Hardy," Aarons replied whirling around to face him. "We just didn't have all the information to show who it really belongs to."
"You weren't on the original Bridal Killer team, were you?"
Frank and Joe looked wide-eyed at their father, unsure of what he was saying. They glanced at the two agents, studying their reaction and sure enough, Aarons was startled by Fenton's question but soon composed herself.
"No," Spritzer revealed shaking his head. Aarons gaped at him in anger. "We weren't. We were brought on this morning after the emails were found."
"But you just said that the emails were found only an hour ago," Joe said confused
"They were found very early this morning," the agent replied.
"Then you're lying to us again," Fenton growled. "You know who this email belongs to or you wouldn't be here, correct?"
Aarons face grew red in anger. She didn't like civilians confronting her about her job and she wasn't going to take it now. "Mr. Hardy," she started firmly, "this is a severe matter that we need to look into before we state what we know. If we say something and it's revealed to be wrong then we have a problem. I don't want to make that mistake, to put you on guard and nothing happens."
"It's Davenport, isn't it?" Frank stated he chest ready to burst with fury. Joe's mouth dropped open in shock and Fenton bowed his head. Durham didn't know what to say only listen. "That's why you're here, isn't it? You know it's him and you were going to keep that from us! Why?"
"Because you don't need to know at the moment," the agent said through gritted teeth.
"We don't need to know?" he said angrily. His voice echoed around the lobby, the people milling about stopped their conversations. "We should know, for God's sake! This guy almost destroyed our family and our friends…twice! And you don't think we should know about it? That's horseshit! This would be the perfect time for him to strike with Nancy immobilized. He wants us all dead!"
"Calm down, Mr. Hardy," Spritzer said gently. "Once we found out for sure, we were going to say something. We just didn't want you to live in fear."
"How do you know it's even him anyways?" Durham asked. "It's not like Jones knew who Davenport was."
"That is true," he nodded. "Our speculations only stemmed from what was found on his laptop. We were able to go back in his search history and found several articles about what went down in Florida and in Milford Point. Jones seemed to want to find out about Davenport and who he was. That's where the suspicion came from. We were told not to say anything to you or anyone about the email until we knew where it went. It is a known email address for a known accomplice of Martin Davenport."
"What photos were sent?" Fenton inquired. "Why?"
"We don't know why, Mr. Hardy," Aarons snapped. "The photos themselves were of your family and Ms. Drew's. He was gathering information the whole time and he sent the photos. Who knows why and we'll never know. It's up to you if you want the others to know about it but if it were me, I'd keep it to myself for now."
"Well, good thing we don't have that kind of a conscience," he growled. "Nancy will know as will Carson. They need to know especially since Nancy will be stuck in a bed for a while. And we'll take care of being with her at all times so you don't have to worry about that either."
"I'm sorry, Mr. Hardy," Spritzer apologized though Aarons didn't say anything. "Please let us know if there's anything that we can do to help with this."
"Yeah, you can get lost," Joe mumbled the moment the two agents were gone. "Not much help they'll be."
"I'm not so sure, Joe," Fenton replied watching the agents get into a car outside. "But then again, they had no intention of telling us about those emails. We just have to keep an eye out for the next few months until Nancy is at least walking. Frank, I want you to be with her as much as you can."
"I don't think that will be a problem, Dad," Frank smirked.
"Yeah, just don't get too cocky about it," his father eyed him. "And please…don't do anything stupid when you're a guest at the Drew's."
"Yeah, Frank," Joe laughed with a mischievous twinkle in his eye. "You don't want to..."
"Shut up, Joe," Frank growled glaring at his brother.
"Oh, it's going to be a long day, isn't it, Lord?" Fenton rolled his eyes to heaven as the two brothers continued to bicker back and forth. He said a silent prayer in the hopes that what the FBI told them was just suspicion and nothing more though he knew better. Davenport was still out there and one day he was going to come after them. Fenton just hope that they were ready when the time came.
Author's Note:
I know. I have been awful at updating this story. I meant to finish this weeks ago but life just seemed to get in the way. I'm back to work and the kids are back in school. My now 3-year-old has been a little stinker at night too. She thinks it's time to get up…every. five. seconds. So being interrupted like that kind of destroys any kind of writing that I like to do before going to bed. And then there's other things that I choose to keep to myself that keep me from writing as well. But the chapter is finally done and we only have the epilogue to go before the story is complete! Then I am taking a few weeks to develop and write the next story before publishing. Look for it probably sometime in February. That is my hope at the moment along with getting the epilogue for this one out within the next week (fingers crossed!). If you're looking for some binge-worthy shows to watch while you're waiting for my next story, I have a few suggestions. Cobra Kai on Netflix. I literally ate up the last season it was that good! Also The Crown on Netflix. Hell's Kitchen has returned as well on Fox so if you're a fan you can watch that on Hulu. The Mandalorian and WandaVision on Disney+ are fantastic shows too. So looking forward to Loki when it comes out in the near future! Can you tell I'm a Marvel fan? If you have any suggestions, please let me know! I love a good show! My husband got the entire series of Magnum, P.I. (the original with Tom Selleck) for Christmas last year and we've been watching those as filler without the kids. Never knew how much fun an old show like that could be but then again we did go through the entire series of The Wild Wild West last year. I guess I'm showing my age here, huh? Though I'm not THAT old! Haha! I grew up on Macgyver and The A-Team so that tells you something. Anyway, I'm rambling here. Thank you so much for reading the previous chapter and for leaving a review if you did. I appreciate anything you guys have to say about the story. So, I hope that you enjoyed this chapter and, if you will, please leave a review to let me know what you think! Until next time, have a good evening and God bless!
