A/N: Wow chapter 11 was long. The reason for the length was to get as much story out as I could because everything is about to change. There's going to be a lot more Matt and Becca fluff in this chapter and more in depth look at the Cohen/Emma/Jesse triangle. Here we go...
Chapter 12: Atonement
Mollie was never one to read the obituaries during her morning paper reading. She usually read the main section, glanced over sports, read the local stuff, the comics and the Dear Abby stuff. Her eyes glanced over the obituaries and she saw a name that stood out to her. Dr. Eric Kingsly, Maddie's father. She gasped and dropped the paper in her breakfast. Katherine looked over at her daughter, confused as to what would have made Mollie react like that.
"Dr. Kingsly died on the fourth," Mollie said. "I have to go see Maddie."
"Have JD drive you," Katherine said. "Tell Maddie I am very saddened by her loss."
"I will Mom," Mollie said.
Mollie ran up the stairs to grab her bag and make a quick card for Maddie. It's not that Mollie didn't want to drive she never had the opportunity to actually learn. With so many people going in different directions it was hard to find time to teach the youngest Reynolds child the ins and outs of driving. In reality Mollie didn't need to learn to drive because everyone took her everywhere anyway. Mollie dug through the many plastic boxes of the pictures she had taken and found the perfect one to be the front of her card. It was the sunrise over the mountains with the snow glistening. It was calming and beautiful all at once.
She went over to her desk and put together a quick scrapbook card together. Mollie wrote a short note to Maddie, letting her know that she would always be there if Maddie needed someone to talk to. After finishing her card Mollie wandered down the hall to the room that JD and Bryan shared. Bryan and Hunter had gone camping with a few of their friends from school and Sebastian had started football camp. She found her remaining brother sitting in front of his laptop. If you didn't know any better you would think that he was talking to himself. Until you head the voice of a girl coming from his computer.
"How was Mollie's birthday?" the voice asked.
"No one had to make a late night trip to the ER, Kennedy," JD replied.
"Hi Kennedy! Adopt any orphans yet?" Mollie called from the door.
"Hi Mollie! Not yet! Happy late birthday!" Kennedy replied.
"Thanks!"
JD and his girlfriend Kennedy Richmond both attened Johns Hopkins for medical school. Kennedy spent her summer working in Darfur while JD came home and worked at the local hospital.
"When you're done, JD could you give me a ride?" Mollie asked.
"How about I just teach you how to drive?" JD teased.
"I'd like that," Mollie smiled. "This is a little important."
"If Casper wants to see you he can bring his big butt down here himself."
"Maddie's dad died. I want to go see her."
JD nodded. "I'll be a minute."
"Thank you JD," Mollie said. "I'll be downstairs."
Mollie waited for her brother in the living room. She knew how important it was to her brother that he get his time with Kennedy while she was away. He had asked her to marry him just before they had parted for the summer. She had said yes but they were going to wait until the following spring. Slowly Mollie was gaining sisters.
Mollie felt very strange standing on the front porch of the Kingsly's house. Mollie hadn't spoken to Maddie since school got out. She knew that this just might be the strangest thing she had ever done. She rang the doorbell and waited for someone to answer. Maddie came to the door wearing flannel jammie pants and a tank top. Her face was undone and her hair a mess, not the Maddie that would normally accept visitors.
"Mollie?" Maddie questioned. "What are you doing here?"
"I read about your dad in the paper and I wanted to see if you were ok," Mollie explained. "Are you okay?"
Maddie's lower lip began to quiver and tears formed in her eyes. She moved away from the door, walked over to the couch, sat down and hugged a pillow to her chest. "I can't believe he's gone. He was there for three years and I only went to see him three times. What kind of daughter am I?"
"Maddie, I'm not here to judge. I am here to listen and to be a friend. I'm not going to be harsh or confrontational, Maddie. Not to judge you or be mean. I'm just here to listen."
"Frankie and I went to Denver. It took me a week just to go to the rehab where he was at. Finally on the fourth we went inside. We were coming home and I got the call that he had died. I cried for an hour on the side of the road. Frankie was so sweet, he just held me and let me cry."
"Casper's really good at that too," Mollie said. "I'm not sorry for the way things happened with the three of us but I am glad that you are happy."
Maddie looked over at the girl she once planned to destroy for luring Casper away from herself. Mollie had come all on her own to console Maddie in the loss of her father. Mollie was there at her house when none of her other so called "friends" had bothered to show up. That fact alone, meant something to Maddie.
"Why did you come over?" Maddie asked.
"Because you're my friend. Because I wanted to. Because deep down you know you wanted me to," Mollie said, fingering the elegant pillow by her side. "You know, I have only ever wanted us to get along. I have never understood why you've hated me so much."
"Honestly?" Maddie started. "I was jealous of you. You have this huge family that looks out for each other, a mom that should be honored as a saint and real true friends who would drop anything they were doing to come help you. You're practically perfect in everyway."
"Maddie I am far from perfect. My life really hasn't been that easy," Mollie said, trying not to laugh.
"So you've moved around a lot, that's not that hard."
"It's not that Maddie. You know my older brother Gavin?"
"Yeah. The one you go spend the first few weeks of the summer with in New York. What about him?"
"You're the second person outside my family who is privy to this information. Gavin is not my brother. He's my real father. He had this girlfriend in high school and long story short she took off and left me with Gavin. He was prepared to be a full time dad until he's dream for Cal Tech came true. He and the parents talked about it and they came to an agreement that I would be raised by them with Gavin taking on the older brother role."
Maddie scrunched up her face trying to compute what Mollie was telling her. "That's very Days of Our Lives. So what happens now? Are you going to move to New York with Gavin?"
"No," Mollie answered. "Everything and everyone that I love is right here."
"My dad's service is this afternoon," Maddie said. "Would you come with me?"
"Of course Maddie," Mollie replied. "I'll stay as long as you need me to."
Suddenly Casper's voice came from Mollie's purse. "Mollie. Mollie, Mollie, Mollie. It's Casper. Answer your phone or I'm just going to keep saying your name over and over until you pick up." Mollie groaned and silenced her phone.
"You can answer. I don't mind," Maddie said.
"He can leave a message," Mollie retorted. "You need me more."
The two girls shared a hug. "What's the best memory you have of your dad?"
Emma had waited long enough. She needed to talk to Jesse, straighten things out with him. If she could get the chance to talk to him and it wasn't a spur of the moment situation everything would be all right. SHe finally got up her nerve to drive around to the even side of town and pulled up in front of Jesse's house. She went up to the house and rang the bell. Joanna answered the door.
"What are you doing here?" Joanna snapped.
"Is Jesse home?" Emma asked, trying to remain polite.
"No. He went fishing with his friends and Tyler."
"Oh. Do you know where they went?"
"Yes. But am I going to tell you? No."
Emma bit her tounge, trying to remain in control. "Well when he gets home can you tell him I came by?"
"It won't do you any good. Jesse wants nothing to do with you."
"Did he say that or is that just your opinion Joanna?"
Joanna scoffed. "I'm glad he finally dumped you. Maybe now he'll be happy. Please leave." Joanna shut the door in Emma's face. Emma bit her thounge to keep herself from saying anything else she might regret later. Emma started to figure out where Jesse and the boys could possibly be fishing. She would drive around the lake again and then up to the lodge. She was going to talk to Jesse, make things right.
Casper, Jesse, Marc, Matt, and Sebastian had gotten up early that morning to take Ty out for a fishing trip with the boys. They told their girlfriend and Ty's wife that they just wanted to get to know Ty better. Screw with him was more of the unspoken plan. It was customary for the boys to give the new guy a hard time.
Marc, Matt and Casper had lived in Hidden Rocks their whole lives and had been in the same classes since kindergarten. When Sebastian moved in down the street from Matt and Marc they took it upon themselves to welcome him to the neighborhood. Matt had talked Sebastian into cliff diving with them. He and Marc stood on the top of the cliff overlooking Rockview Lake. Like most guys Matt made sure Sebastian was the only one to make the jump. After that jump, Marc and Sebastian were each other's best friend. The pair made the summer league football and went on to play on the middle school team.
Then Jesse moved to town. He and Matt struck up a buddyship and Jesse's christening wasn't as painful. At least that was the original plan. They had talked him into water skiing but forgot to mention that he would be doing it barefoot. And that's how Jesse spent the first few weeks of his move to America in a full leg cast.
Now that Ty had married Jesse's twin sister the five boys plotted for days how they were going to properly christen Ty into their little "boys only" club. Then they came up with a wonderfully, perfectly, absolutely awful idea. Local legend stated that the ghosts of Jeffery Blythe's victims walked the mountainside every night calling his name. The plan was to take him camping jut beyond the lodge and freak him out with a tape of someone calling for Jeffery while he was trying to sleep. And the best part of this was that they could blame it on his own head getting filled with the local legends.
"So where exactly are we going?" Ty asked the guys.
"Just a camping spot Casper found awhile back," Matt replied. "A fish filled creek runs right through it. It's the perfect spot for all of us to hang out."
"Why do I get the feeling this is not going to be a normal camping trip?" Ty questioned.
"Probably because you've seen House of Wax one too many times," Casper snarked. "I saw it too, just to watch Paris take a steel ploe through the head."
"It's just going to be camping, fishing and as far as I know there are no haunted wax houses or roadkill pits anywhere in this area," Marc replied. "I think."
"Ty do you really think I would mess with the guy who just married my sister?" Jesse asked.
"Judging on your reaction when we got married, yes. I do think this is all a ruse to mess with me."
"Man, you're my brother," Jesse said. "We're just going camping. Nothing is going to happen."
The guys were quiet. Casper flipped on his phone, checking his bars. He was trying to call Mollie, whithout looking like the stooge of the group. He was scrolling around on his Blackberry, trying to act like he was playing solitare. He and Sebastian were in the back of Matt's Excursion.
"Cas, this is a 'no girls allowed' camping trip," Sebastian said loudly. "Don't you go giving away our location."
"Who's calling a girl?" Matt questioned.
"I am calling my girlfriend to let her know that I will be out of touch for a few days," Casper explained. "No names, no locations or any other incriminating evidence." Casper got to Mollie's name on his call list and hit send. It rang through to Mollie's voice mail.
"Hey you've reached Mollie. I'm a little busy at the moment. Leave me a message and I'll get back to you when I'm not so busy. God Bless! Beeep!"
"Hey Molls. It's Casper. Just calling to let you know I've gone camping with the guys. I'll call you when we get back. I love you," Casper said quickly so the others in the truck wouldn't start razzing him.
"We love you too Mollie!" the guys shouted just before Casper hung up.
Emma had spent most of her day driving all over town looking for Jesse. They weren't at their normal fishing spot in town and they weren't at the lodge. Emma had a feeling they had gone up to the Platte River and wouldn't be back for a few days. Matt's idea of camping is going as far as he can in his Excursion while towing ATV's, then packing everything they brought with them onto the ATV's and going even further into the mountains. If they weren't back in four days, the parents would call the sherrif and the search and rescue team. In the history of the boys' camping trips the sherrif only had to be called once.
To say the least Emma was frustrated. She wanted to talk to Jesse and the fates were against her. Emma called Jo and Becca to see if they kbew where their other halves had vanished to. They both had no idea where they had gone. Emma even called Halle who didn't even know her husband had been kidnapped.
"Sorry Emma," Halle said. "Jesse and Ty left before I even woke up. I have no idea where they went."
"Thanks anyway Halle," Emma sighed. "I'll call you later."
Emma hung up her phone and paused at the red light on Main St Odd. She wracked her brain, trying to remember all the places Matt had gone camping over the years. After the light turned Emma turned onto Third Street heading towards her house. Passing Mollie's house it dawned on her. If any of the guys would break the rules it would be Casper to Mollie. Flipping open her phone Emma punched in Mollie's speed dial code. The line rang four times before going to Mollie's voice mail.
"Hey you've reached Mollie. I'm a little busy at the moment. Leave me a message and I'll get back to you when I'm not so busy. God Bless! Beeep!"
"Hey Molls. Did Casper happen to say where he and the guys were going camping? I was wanting to talk to Jesse. Call me back when you get a chance," Emma said. She pulled into the garage of the house and got out of her car. Nothing seemed right when she went in the house. The dozen and a half police officers and FBI agents were gone. Emma figured they were out on a patrol or getting lunch. It was late in the afternoon. Her grandparents had taken the weekend to relax and get away. They had gone to Denver, leaving Emma in the very capable hands of the law protecting the house. Emma enjoyed having the house to herself. She planned to veg out in front of the TV for a few hours before trying to call Jesse again.
The fire was roaring and the fish were frying. The boys had a rather successful day of fishing. Matt was the only one to get shoved into the Platte River. Matt is the goofball of the group. Jesse is the calm, serious one; Marc and Sebastian were the brawn; Casper the brains and Matt the one who would flub everything up and make sure to get them all in trouble. All day they were trying to figure out just what Ty's role would be in their little band. He wasn't big and beefy like Marc and Sebastian. He was a skinny kid who played one too many video games. He was witty and sarcastic and really smart. He may just replace Casper as their brains.
"We're all curious but none of them have the balls to ask," Matt began. "Ty, man, why did you get married at 18?"
"It was impulsive, romantic and I love Halle," Ty said. "I loved her from the moment I first met her."
"Well now that we got that taken care of, let the freaky campfire stories begin!" Marc announced. "Who tells the Hidden Rocks Killer story the best?"
"Can we not do this one tonight guys?" Jesse asked. "I did just break up with his daughter."
"Wait what?" Ty asked. "New guy confused."
"Great now we have to tell it," Jesse sighed. "Matt you tell it. You do it best."
"Once about ten years ago a man lived in town. He was nice, charming and really normal. But he had a dark, scary, horrible secret. For the past five years or so young women were going missing. And in a small town such as Hidden Rocks it was getting scary. They say that all the woods of Wyoming are littered with the women he killed."
"And what does this killer have to do with your ex, Jesse?" Ty asked.
"I'm getting to that. For the longest time the cops couldn't catch this guy. Finally they called in the FBI and they noticed a pattern. All of his victims names started with an 'A'. And based on the locations of where the bodies were found they figured it had to be a local guy. They started looking at almost every man over the age of 30. Soon everyone in town was a suspect except the one that always seemed to be away," Matt continued. "So anyway it turns out that it was Jeffery Blythe was the one. They only caught him because he screwed up and killed his wife Anna Ross."
"Emma's mom?" Ty questioned.
"Yeah. Emma saw him do it and called the cops," Marc said. "It was Emma's tesitmony that put Jeffery Blythe away for the rest of his life."
"Wasn't there a fire or something that he escaped from?"
"They say that he is on the hunt again and really after Emma," Marc said.
"Can we talk about something else please?" Jesse said.
"Sure Jess. So Ty, where are you and Halle going to live? You guys going to stay here in Hidden Rocks or go back to your family in Greeley?" Casper asked.
"Both Halle and I want to stay here. My mom is cool with whatever we decide to do," Ty answered. "Halle had been talking about moving out of her house anyway by the end of the summer."
Jesse looked over at his new brother in law in shock. Halle wanted to leave? Why hadn't she told him? "Halle wants to leave?" his voice sounding shocked.
"I'm sorry Jesse," Ty said, when he realized what he had said. "I thought Halle had already told you. I'll let her tell you the main reasons."
Jesse nodded. There was a lull in the boys' conversation before Marc spoke up again. "Do you have any places picked out yet?"
"Halle found a few places in town that we can afford. We're planning on going to Greeley for a few weeks to pack up my stuff and come back here," Ty explained.
"I can't imagine moving away from all my friends and family for a girl," Matt said.
Marc and Jesse started laughing. Matt looked over at his friends with a glare. Soon Casper and Sebastian joined in the laughing.
"Please," Marc laughed. "If Becca was to move back to Dallas, you would be right behind her."
"And you wouldn't follow Jo back to Europe?" Sebastian snarked at Marc.
"Let's not forget Casper and Mollie," Jesse teased. "Face it. All of us at the moment would follow our girlfriends to the ends of the earth and back. Except me. Emma can go where ever she wants and do whatever she wants. It matters little to me."
Maddie and Mollie arrived back at the Kingsly house after Dr. Kingsly's memorial service. Maddie was very happy to have Mollie there with her. Odette or Leah would have been bored and would have made sinde comments about the people who had come. Mollie sat to the left of Maddie and Frankie sat on her right. Frankie may have been the one to comfort Maddie when Dr, Kingsly died but it was Mollie who was the one to offer words of comfort as he was laid in the ground.
Back at the house; Maddie, Mollie and Frankie were sitting around the kitchen table not saying much of anything. Mollie couldn't take the quiet anymore and was fiddling around in the kitchen. She was opening drawers and taking things out of the fridge.
"Mollie what are you doing?" Maddie asked. "You don't have to make anything."
"I know. But I want to. You know this is something my mother has always said. The funeral is for mourning, but when you come home, celebrate." Frankie looked at the short redhead strangely. Mollie continued, explaining. "We need to celebrate the fact that Dr. Kingsly is no longer in pain. He's gone home, in a sense. When my aunt died, Dad played all her favorite songs as loud as we could and he danced around the room with Mom. Then we watched all her favorite movies. Dad said that Aunt Marie didn't want us to be sad that she was gone. She would want us to be going on with life. So Maddie, what was your dad's favorite song?"
"AC/DC's Back in Black and anything by Sinatra," Maddie answered.
"Come on Maddie. You're going to smile, you're going to laugh. Neither of which I have ever seen you truly do."
Mollie wound her way through the Kingsly house into their large family/TV room. She scanned the CD collection and grabbed the first two Sinatra CDs she could see. Slipping them both into the player hitting the shuffle button and cranking the volume knob, the sounds of Jerry Lewis and Frank singing a cover of Guys and Dolls. Mollie began singing at the top of her lungs.
"When you see a guy reach for stars in the sky, you can bet that he's doing it for some doll," Mollie sang. She waved over at Maddie and Frankie. For the rest of the evening Mollie, Frankie and Maddie danced and laughed, celebrating the life of Dr. Eric Kingsly.
The quiet of the house was starting to play on Emma's nerves. Ever so often she would hear tapping coming from any number of the windows. She paused her movie for five minutes just to listen and try and figure out where the sounds was coming from. She got up and wandered around the house checking each of the rooms. With nothing out of the ordinary, Emma went back down to the den. She swore she saw someone run in past the front window. Figuring it had to be one of the many cops patrolling the area she waved it off.
Emma sat back down on the couch in the den and flipped back on her movie. She was watching King Kong and had just got to the part when Ann saw Kong for the first time when the power in her house went out.
"Great," Emma muttered. She got up and opened the curtains to let some light in while she searched the den for the dozens of flashlights her grandfather kept around. She found one and went down to the basement to check the breaker box. The basement of Emma's house by far had to be the creepiest place in the entire house. Her grandmother was a pack rat keeping everything that didn't have a real home within the house in the basement. Boxes, bags and other containers of junk littered the floor. There was a path carved to the breaker box and that was about it.
Emma opened the breaker and flipped the switch twice hoping it would turn back on. Realizing that wasn't the problem she slammed the door in frustration and turned to go back upstairs. As she turned around she came face to face with the one person that scared her more than anything else.
"Hello Emily," Jeffery Blythe said. "Daddy's home."
Gathering her strength Emma kicked her father hard in the tenders and ran for the stairs. She knocked over a few dozen boxes on her way in hopes of trapping him in the basement. She ran up the stairs and slammed the door. Breathing hard, Emma toppled a bookcase in front of the door. Fear was filling her mind and body. She tried to think of the next thing to do. She could hear him muttering and yelling for her from the basement. Emma ran for the phone and picked it up only to find that the lines had been cut. She was trapped. Shaking the fear from her, she ran for the upper levels of the house. She locked herself in her room and hid under her bed.
Casper wasn't the only one to break the "no girls allowed" rule for the camping trip. He snuck off to the highest point he could find and punched in Becca's number. He hadn't talked to her in a few days and it was starting to bother him. There was a time in his and Becca's relationship where they went longer than twenty minutes without talking. Seeing how he just got Becca back he was determined not to lose her ever again. Matt was the one guy in his group of friends who knew who he wanted to be with for the rest of his life.
"Hello?" Becca's soft, but lispy voice answered.
"Hey Becs," Matt said. "How are you?"
"It's been a busy day here at the lodge. Landon and Amy asked Jo and I when you boys were coming back. They don't like having most of their outdoor staff up and disappear on them," Becca teased. "Where are you?"
"Baby, you know I can't tell you that," Matt said. "I'm already breaking da rules for calling you."
"Shouldn't someone know where you guys are in case something happens?" Becca questioned.
"Fine. We're camping on the Platte River in Shoshone. We'll be back by tomorrow afternoon."
"Thank you for telling me, Matt. Just so you know Emma's been bugging everyone trying to find Jesse. Apparently she really wants him back."
"From hanging out with him all day the feeling isn't mutual. If you could see him Becs, Jesse's happier than he's been in months. Enough Jessem drama. What do you want to do when I get back?"
"Well I was checking online this afternoon and I saw that Wicked is coming to Denver next weekend. We could go see that. Make a romantic weekend of it," Becca suggested.
"I'll see what I can do," Matt said. "Would your parents let us go to Denver for the weekend?"
"Yes. Mama already knows that you would never do anything to dishonor me," Becca laughed. Pausing for a moment, then Becca continued. "I love you, Matt. I really do."
"I love you too, Becca. With all my heart," Matt replied.
"Hey yo, Matt!" Casper shouted. "Where's the traveling poker set?"
"Ok, Becs, I got to go before I get caught. I'll see you tomorrow."
"Matt!" Casper yelled again. "You're not calling Becca are you?"
Matt quickly snapped his phone shut and came out from behind the rocks he was hiding behind. "I was checking dad's stock prices," Matt lied. "Poker set should be in the tub with the food."
"Yeah sure. Stock prices. Is that what they're calling it these days?" Casper teased his friend. "Let's go lose some money."
Emma listened in complete silence for any sign of her father. The crashing and banging in the basement had stopped almost five minutes ago. She wasn't sure because she couldn't get to her cell without making noises. Her cell was in her purse which was on her bed above her. Finally she heard the sounds of footsteps in the lower levels of the house. She heard drawers opening in the kitchen and the rustling of papers. Soon she heard her father's footsteps on the stairs.
"Come on out Emily," Jeffery called. "I just want to talk to you. You don't want to make me angry. You know what happens when I get angry. So why don't you just come out and see your Daddy."
She heard him kick in the different doors in the hallway. "Now Emily, come on out. You're only going to make it worse for yourself if you hide."
He kicked in her bedroom door and she could see his feet from under her bed. Jeffery started looking around his daughter's room. He admired the remaining photographs on her walls. He pulled down one of Emma and Mollie a few months back.
"You look so much like your mother," Jeffery said. "This friend of yours is rather beautiful too. I'd love to meet her."
Rage was building in Emma. She knew just what he was doing. He was baiting her, goading her just enough to get her to come out of hiding.
"I'd love to take her up to the cabin and show her around. Think she'd like it up there? Emily? Answer your father."
Emma felt around under her bed hoping to find something sharp. Her father was standing just close enough that she could shove something sharp into his leg and make a run for it. Coming across her school bag she felt around inside and found her compass from geometry. Pulling it open and aiming the sharp point at Jeffery's calf Emma shoved it in with all her might. Screaming in pain, Jeffery reached for the object falling to the floor. Emma had just enough time to scramble from her hiding place grab her bag and run for the door.
Jeffery managed to grab ahold of her ankel causing her to fall. Emma kicked back at him loosening his grip. Slamming her door shut behind her she ran for the stairs again. She toppled down them landing in a heap on the floor. Getting to her feet she ran for the gun cabinet. Knowing that the key was back upstairs in her grandfather's safe she grabbed the poker from the fireplace and smashed the glass. She grabbed the first handgun that she could get to. She cut her arm on the broken glass. She heard him coming down the stairs. She ran for the closet and hid herself among the coats and cleaning supplies that Nanna had stashed in there. Flipping the safety off the gun and cocking it as quietly as she could. She crouched and waited. It was only a matter of time before he found her again. She needed to get outside and alert someone of the danger she was in. Unable to see through the solid door Emma, counted to twenty before opening it a crack. Seeing through the crack that he was not in the living room Emma opened the door wider and stepped out.
Just as she stepped out of her hiding place, Jeffery jumped in front of her. She tried to hit him with the gun but he knocked it from her hands. The sun was starting to go down, casting shadows into the dark house. Emma kicked and slapped at her father, shoving him back far enough that she could make a dive for the gun. Front flipping over her father's body she ran for the door. Jeffery recovered and threw a heavy book at her, hitting her just under the knees, knocking her down. Emma hit her head on the edge of the steps. Holding her head for a moment she pushed herself up and crawled for the front door. Fumbling with her cell, she hit the call button and it started ringing through.
"Hey you've reached Mollie," Mollie's voice came over the phone. "Damn it!" Emma cursed. She hit the button again as she crawled for the door, this time getting to Cohen's number. He picked up on the first ring.
"Emma?"
"COHEN!" Emma cried. "He's in the house! He's right behind me! No! LET GO OF ME!"
"EMMA! EMMA!" Cohen yelled into the phone. "EMMA! I'm calling the cops! Baby, hang on! Emma! I'm coming! If you can hear me, Emma, I'm coming!"
Jeffery caught Emma by her foot and was pulling her back towards him. Emma fought hard against him, losing grip on her phone. Jeffery pushed it aside and pulled Emma up by the collar of her shirt.
"This is no way to treat your father," Jeffery said, holding onto Emma tightly. "I just wanted to see you."
Emma winced from the pain of the cut on her arm and the recent fall she had on the stairs. "I want you to see that I'm not all bad."
"You killed my mother!" Emma screamed. "You did that! You can't deny it any longer!"
"Your mother's death was a freak accident. I didn't kill her."
"I WATCHED YOU! You threw her into a glass coffee table. Shoved her through the fishtank and then struck her seven times with a sliver candlestick. I WATCHED YOU KILL HER! YOU RUINED MY LIFE!" With all the rage Emma had built up in her, she drew her hand back and landed her fist into her father's face. He staggered backwards and gave Emma enough room to make a run for the door. She located her grandfather's Glock and picked it up in her hands.
In full control of her emotions, Emma began to speak to her father, pointing the gun at him. "You ruined my life. Your ghost story that gets told at camps. Everyone knows who you are and what you did. You deserve to rot in hell!"
Jeffery started to come closer to her. "You're not going to shoot me. You need me around so you can have someone to blame."
"I will shoot you! I swear to God! You come any closer."
Distantly Emma could hear Cohen voice calling to her. Emma's finger was light on the trigger. All it would take would be a quick pull and he would go down. She would claim self-defense. Jeffery took another step forward. Emma pulled hard on the trigger of the gun. A blast echoed in the empty house. Jeffery fell back. Emma cried out in fear as a pounding on the front door echoed. Cohen's voice coming from the door and her phone. Dropping the gun Emma let out a sob.
"Emma! I'm coming in!" Cohen yelled. He kicked in the door and saw for the first time Emma Ross, broken and afraid. Outside Emma heard the sirens and clamour of the police and FBI agents rushing to the house. Cohen wrapped his arms around Emma and led her outside to the steps. He stayed with her while the cops and paramedics rushed inside. Sherrif Murphy was the first to approach Emma and Cohen.
"Miss Ross?" he greeted. "Are you all right?"
"Yes sir," Emma said, the tears of fear and relief easing from her eyes.
"I am going to have to ask you to come down and give us a statement," Sherrif Murphy said. "Are your grandparents here?"
"No sir. They went to Denver."
"Ok. Do you have anyone that you can call to have come with you?"
"I can," a low, yet very important sounding voice behind the sherrif said.
"Jack," Emma said.
Jack Reynolds flashed his badge at the local sherrif. "Agent Reynolds. How can I be of assistance?"
"I have been asked by the Ross' to be special counsel in this case. I will accompany Emma to the station and be present when she gives her statement."
"Yes sir," Sherrif Murphy stammered.
Cohen walked with a still shaky Emma to Jack's car. Cohen climbed in next to her. He put her seatbelt on her and put his arms back around her. It was hard for him not to want to comfort her and be near her in her time of need. Even though they had only been together a short time, he cared a great deal for her.
The boys had the local rock station on while they were playing cards. Matt was winning and soon they were growing tired of poker and had moved onto playing their own hybrid game of Idiot and Mao. They were rocking out to Linkin Park when the song was suddenly cut off.
"Breaking news from Hidden Rocks," the DJ said. "Escaped convict Jeffery Allen Blythe was apprehended this evening at the home of Harlan and Isabelle Ross. Sources from the Hidden Rocks Sherrif Department say that Blythe broke into the house and terrorized his teenage daughter Emma Ross. Blythe is in critical conditon at Hidden Rocks Hospital from a gunshot wound to his chest. We will keep you up to date as this story progresses."
The boys were silent. Casper was the first to start moving. "All agreed that the camping trip be post poned?"
The boys nodded in agreement and began packing the ATVs. It took them less time to get packed and out of the mountains than it did to get everything unpacked. They were back on the trail and to Matt's truck before they knew it. They were silent the entire drive from Shoshone to Hidden Rocks. Every fifteen minutes the report would come back on not adding any new information. Once they arrived back in town it was getting late. Odd side Lakerose was blocked off completely. Being that there were only five ways to get in and out of the lake district the boys were stuck. They couldn't even get to Jesse's place. Held began to ring on Casper's phone.
"Mollie?" Casper answered. "Baby where are you?"
"At Maddie's," Mollie replied. "I haven't heard from Emma. Dad did call and told me to stay where I was. Where are you?"
"We just got back from Shoshone," Casper said. "Stay at Maddie's. I'm coming to you. I love you."
"We're going over to Maddie's?" Matt questioned, after Casper hung up.
"We can't very well get to yours, Marc's, Bastian's, Jesse's or my place. Becca lives on the even side as does Jo. The only places we can possibly get to is the school, the police station and Maddie's. If Mollie is there, she has a damn good reason to be," Casper argued. "So we can either sit here and stare at police tape for hours or we can go to friend's place and try to make sense of what's going on."
Matt didn't say another word as he backed his truck up and drove into town. Maddie lived on Thrid Street between the middle school and Mollie's church. While Matt drove, Marc and Ty called Jo and Halle to let them know they were back in town but stuck on the odd side. Matt pulled up in front of Maddie's house and killed the engine.
"You know, I'm going to take a walk, clear my head here," Matt said. "I'll be back."
"I'll join you Matt," Jesse said.
Casper, Sebastian, Ty and Marc walked up to Maddie's front door and rang the bell. Maddie answered the door and stepped aside to let the four boys in the house. It was quieter than it had been before the news that Jeffery Blythe had attacked his daughter. Mollie was worried about Emma and everyone else was in shock.
Matt and Jesse split up on their walk and Jesse ended up walking past the police station. He wasn't sure why he was going there, but he knew that in his heart he hadn't written Emma off completly. His head may keep saying that he didn't love and care about Emma anymore but his heart was saying the exact opposite. Buried deep inside himself, Jesse Valmont was still very much in love with Emma Ross. He stopped just outside the station when he saw two people walk out.
Cohen opened the door for Emma and wrapped his arm around her helping her down the steps. Jesse watched as Emma clung to Cohen like he was the only thing holding her to the earth.
"Do you want me to take you to the ER?" Cohen asked. "Emma talk to me."
"He was going to kill me," Emma said softly. "Is he-did I?"
"All I know is that he's in critical condition," Cohen answered. "Did you want him to die?"
"It won't bring Mommy back," Emma whispered, the tears starting to fall again. "Just when I thought I was past all this finally able to go on with my life this has to happen. I don't want anything else bad to happen."
"Not with me," Cohen said.
"You promise?"
Cohen leaned down to kiss Emma. "I promise."
Emma kissed Coehn deeper and held him close to her. Whatever she and Jesse had before was gone and was never coming back. Jesse stuffed his hands in his jeans pockets and walked away into the night.