Chapter 23
Jennifer, Stephen, and Lieutenant Gillis stood around the condo living room, trying to sort out the details. Max was sitting on the couch, a bag of frozen peas held to his head.
"All we have put together, Lieutenant," Jennifer tried to make sense of the events. "Is Jonathan and Max were looking at an odd card from yesterday's mail. Then there was a knock on the door."
"Do you remember what time that was, Max?"
"Gosh, I would guess around seven. We were up to go to the tux shop. We had an eight o'clock appointment. We were going to leave as soon as Mr. H. finished his coffee," Max recalled.
"Pa and I arrived around 9:45. We found Max on the floor." She motioned towards Max, "With that lovely shiner on his face. Jonathan was gone." Looking at the door, she noticed the garment bags holding Jonathan and Max's tuxedos for the wedding were still on the floor.
The wedding.
The thought made Jennifer catch her breath. "Lieutenant. I am marrying this man in three days. Please..."
Jonathan willed the world to stop rocking, and yet he couldn't make it halt. There was a ringing in his ears; he also couldn't make that stop. Or was that a dinging? Yes, less phone more bell, he thought. He slowly opened his eyes. He was alone. And while everything in front of and above him was still, it was also rocking. His stomach turned inside him.
Looking around the room, he tried to put together where he was. Jonathan wanted to sit up, but the position of his hands made that a little complicated. It dawned on him they were tied behind his back. With his face right up against the soft wall, he tried to push back and turn around when he fell off the seat he was laying on, hitting the back of his head on the table behind him. "Ouch!" he said aloud before he caught himself. Then he cursed under his breath. He hoped no one was close enough to hear him.
"We will do everything in our power to find him, Ms. Edwards." Turning back to Max and handing him a card, "Anything else you can remember, please call me."
"Thank you, Lieutenant," Jennifer said before she shut the door behind him. "Max," she turned around to face the older man. "Oh, poor baby, how's your head?"
"I'm fine. How are we going to find Mr. H?" As he looked at her, a thought formed in his mind, and his eyes suddenly grew wider. "And before the wedding!"
"I know, Max." She moved to the kitchen. "Do you guys still have anything for a headache here?"
"Uh… Might be in that box on the counter."
Reaching the kitchen and looking in the box, Jennifer pulled the card out and looked it over. "I wonder why he didn't say anything to me…"
"What?" Max questioned.
"Uh, nothing, Max…"
"Jennifer," her father spoke up for the first time. "What did you just put together?"
Jennifer flicked the card over her left hand, nervously thinking about New York. "Pa, how much did Momma tell you about our weekend together?"
"Not a lot," a light flickered in his eyes, as he remembered their brief conversation while he packed his bags for California sooner than he had planned. "Though, I think enough. What are you thinking."
"Well. The card is from Elliot. He's talking about buying land in Australia. That's kind of a big deal." She pondered her words, careful about what she said. "He didn't say anything to me the last time I saw him."
"And you didn't tell Jonathan about this meeting?" her father asked. Jennifer took note of Max's raised eyebrows.
"No. I didn't want to make Jonathan angry with Elliot so close to the wedding. Ugh. That man has been nothing but a pain from the start. Pushy. Overbearing…"
"Screw loose…" Max jumped in.
"Screw loose… yeah, I didn't see that until recently," Jennifer confided.
"So, what does this loose screw have to do with Mr. H's disappearance?"
"Maybe nothing, Max. I hope nothing. However, I wonder…" Jennifer set the card down as she spoke, looked back in the box, and found the bottle she was hunting. She pulled two tablets from it and poured Max some water. Then she walked back to him, handing him the items. "Do you know where Mr. H keeps his trophies from the races?"
Finishing his drink, Max offered, "Sure. On the sailboat." As if on cue, the phone rang. Max grabbed his head. "Uh. Make that stop!"
Jennifer picked up the handset on the wall, "Hart residence." She smiled to herself; she was going to have to get used to saying that. "Um, no, he's not available…. No, Max can not come to the phone right now. Can I help you?... Not that I was aware. Let me see if I can find out." She placed her hand over the receiver and turned to Max, "Hey Max. Was Jonathan planning on using the sailboat today? Or did he give someone else permission to do so?"
"No. Mr. H has too much to do. And he doesn't let others use the sailboat. Why?"
She turned back to the phone. "No, no one has permission…. Oh? Thanks for letting us know, Joe. If you could stall them, that would be fantastic." Hanging up, Jennifer turned back to Max and her father. "Someone is on Jonathan's sailboat. Max, where's that card the Lieutenant handed you?"
When he concluded no one was coming because of his outburst, Jonathan moved around and worked his way to a sitting position. He surveyed the surroundings, figuring he was inside the cabin of a boat. However, it wasn't one he recognized.
The door to his right opened, and a pair of long, shapely legs descended the stairs. The blonde was not unknown to him.
"You don't look surprised, Jonathan."
"Oh, I'm surprised. I'm just trying to figure out why."
"You honestly have no idea, do you?"
"No, I do not."
Jennifer, Max, Stephen, and half of the LA police department showed up at the marina Jonathan housed his sailboat in. Joe walked them to the end of the dock. He pointed to the figure climbing around on the boat in its slip halfway down the pier.
Lieutenant Gillis took several men down, and together they apprehended the man, despite his protests. As they all neared Max and Jennifer, she just began shaking her head.
"This can't be right, Lieutenant," Jennifer sighed.
"He's the guy on the boat. Jonathan isn't there, though," Lieutenant Gillis told her.
"I, I, hey! I can explain," the man was struggling to be heard.
"This ain't your guy, Lieutenant," Max agreed with Jennifer.
"Stanley, what on earth are you doing?" Jennifer asked him.
"Hey, Ms. Edwards. Kimberly said Mr. Hart needed some paperwork off the boat before he left. But I can't find it."
"Stanley. Mr. Hart hasn't been on the boat for a good six months. What paperwork could be there?" Max questioned him.
"She said she thought he left the marriage license on the boat. But I looked all over it. I didn't see it anywhere."
"That's because I have it, Stanley. It's never been on that boat," Jennifer informed him.