Chapter 17

Scott, Avi, and Kevin waited until the cops showed up. When the police officers showed up, they brought them to the beach where they found the phone. One of the officers took Kirstie's phone and said that they were going to go back to the beach house where they were staying so that they could canvas the area. Scott thought of Emma and Mitch and called them.

"Hello," Mitch answered.

"Mitch, I'm coming back to the house, I have news to tell you," Scott said bleakly.

Mitch sat down knowing this was not a good sign, and said, "Scott, just tell me what's going on, I have to know."

Scott took a breath and said, "Kirstie is missing, we can't find her, just found her phone with a message for Avi. We called the cops and they are heading back to the beach house to canvas the area."

"No, no, no…" Mitch said as tears fell from his eyes. Emma came over and sat beside Mitch and put her arm around him. Mitch dropped his phone and leaned into Emma mumbling something. Emma reached down to the phone and picked it up, "Hello?"

"Em, I'll be home soon. Okay, I have to go now." Scott said.

"Scott, what's going on, Mitch is crying hysterically. Please just tell me," Emma said.

Scott told her knowing her reaction would be similar to Mitch's. He was feeling that way too, but he was trying to stay brave for them all. He wanted to find Kirstie and would do anything to find her. Emma hung up and as her tears flowed, she hugged Mitch as they cried together.

Scott, Avi, Kevin, and about five other police officers came up to the backside of the beach house. Emma and Mitch ran out to see everyone. Emma went up to Scott and hugged him as he held her. She said, "This can't be happening, I just saw her this morning."

Scott leaned down and said, "We will find her, Em."

The police officer walked over to Emma and Scott. He looked at Emma and asked, "Excuse miss, are you Emma? Can we talk to you about your cousin and your conversation this morning?"

Emma turned from Scott's chest and faced the officer and nodded. She walked over to some of the chairs on the deck as the others surrounded her and the officer. She told them everything that she could think of, what Kirstie was wearing, black shorts, a pink t-shirt, and some black beach shoes. She tells them that she had her phone on her; hair pulled back into a ponytail and had bright pink sunglasses on. She then drops her head into her lap and cries, "Kirstie."

Scott leans down to Emma's level and places his arm around her and she turns into him and continues to cry. Scott looks at the office hoping this is the last of the questions and said, "Do you need anything else?"

The officer looked at Emma and Scott and said, "That'll be all for now. Stay close to the house, and we will find her, miss, we have the best looking for her. I will call you if I know anything," and handed Scott his card.

Scott took the card and watched the officer walk off the deck with the others and started canvasing the area from the house to the pier. They started walking to the other houses on the beach and checking each house between where Pentatonix was staying to the pier. There were about twenty houses between them and the pier and the police were going to check each and every house along the way, they were convinced that she was nearby since her phone was on the beach. Emma got up and headed inside to the guest bedroom and she curled up on her bed and got under the blankets and held onto a photo of Kirstie and cried into her pillow.

Avi, Mitch, Scott, and Kevin were all outside still and they were watching the police on the beach. Avi said, "I feel like I should be out there with them."

Kevin came over to Avi and placed his arm around him and said, "Avi, they will find her, she'll be okay."

"I hope so, Kirstie is my world, I can't imagine her not being here, I love her so much," Avi says walking inside the house. Mitch looks over at Avi as he walks in and says, "They'll find her, Avi."

Mitch goes to Scott and they hug and Kevin comes over and hugs them as well. They go back inside and all sit in the living room. After some time passes, Scott gets up and goes to check on Emma.

(Scott's POV)

I walk into Emma's room and see her crumpled up on her bed, devastated, feeling the way we are all feeling right now. I go to her and lie beside her and pull her into my arms and we hold each other for what seemed like hours. I kiss the top of her head and tell her, "It's going to be okay, Em."

Emma looks at me with her sad eyes and says, "I'm praying that it's going to be, Scott, I can't lose Kirstie, she's like my sister, she's my family. I haven't even called her mom, I just can't right now."

"You don't have to call her right now, let's wait a couple of hours first," I say.

She leans into me and I hold her and run my hand through her hair and rub her back.

(Kirstie's POV)

It's been hours and I'm scared out of my mind. My thoughts are of Avi, Em, Mitch, Scott, Kevin, my family. I try to remain calm and am startled when I hear voices in the other room. Frozen with fear, I try my best to listen to them, recognizing one of the voices belonging to Jeremy. I don't know the other voice. I hear footsteps and two people coming into the room that I am in. Cringing away from the voices, I try to back up as much as I can even though I'm in a chair already. Jeremy drops to his knees in front of me and pulls the blindfold off my eyes. "Shane, how could you! I told you to just bring her here, not tie her up!" Jeremy yells at the direction of the tall man.

"Well, I went to her house last night and there was no one there, just the other girl, Emma. I went back this morning and waited and saw Kirstie go for a walk without anyone else, I thought it was a perfect chance to get her," Shane says laughing.

"This is not funny! We are going to jail for a long time, do you even realize what you have done?!" Jeremy yells and gets in his face.

I try my best to remain as calm as I can, hoping that Jeremy will let me go. I look up and see that Shane and Jeremy are getting into a heated argument and it's not long before they start fighting, swinging their fists and landing blows. They both stop when they hear a loud banging, knock on the front door and Shane grabs something and I try and make it out and I lose my breath when I see it's a gun. I look to Jeremy and he's slowly moving towards the door.

"Don't you say a word," Shane says looking back at me pointing the gun towards me. My eyes widen and I look away, looking towards Jeremy, who is the only person in this room at the moment, who would save me.

Jeremy says, "Shane, put that away, what the hell are you doing."

Shane lowers his gun and says, "I'm getting the door, it might be the police, I saw them checking other houses down the beach. It was stupid of us to stay right here in the area."

Shane leaves the room and shuts the door and goes to the front door to answer it. Jeremy turns to me and comes quickly over and unties my arms and takes the tape off my mouth. "I need to get out of here, now!" I whisper loudly.

Jeremy looks around the room and says, "Kirstie, I'll let you go, I'm going to go check on the front door, okay. Just stay here, I want to talk to you, still."

"No, I'm not talking to you; I'm not staying here in this house a minute longer than I have too. I'm leaving," I say as I look to the window on the back wall. It's similar to the beach house I am staying in and I can see that it leads out to the beach. I go to the window and open in and look down and see that it's a big drop, but this is my life I'm saving, I look and see police officers and I scream at them, "Help me! Help me! Over here!"

I feel Jeremy coming towards me and I jump out the window away from his grip. I fall to the ground fast and hard hitting my head on a rock that I didn't see.

….. Back to Third Person POV…..

The police were at the front door and when Shane answered, they knew something was up with the way he was acting. Shane also matched the description of the man who showed up at the house last night. They questioned him about this and he showed signs of lying. They asked if they could come inside and Shane said, "Not without a warrant, I know my rights."

They then heard a scream coming from the back room and Shane tried to run past them into the front yard towards a car. The police officer grabbed him quickly and brought him down to the ground. The other officer walked into the house cautiously and came to the room with Jeremy who was sitting in a chair. "Sir, we heard a scream, are you okay?" They see the window wide open and look down and see Kirstie on the ground below them and see blood coming from her head. The officer turns to Jeremy and Jeremy just holds out his hands because he knows that he's going to be arrested. He doesn't want anything to happen to Kirstie. He was afraid of the worse. That Kirstie had fallen to her death.