Chapter 19
"Your Aunt Suzie? How do you know that Amy? You don't even know it's from him." Jackson asked.
"I … I don't know, but I just know it's from Frankie and that he's gone after her. We have to get to her."
"Amy, let's be rational about this." Kellie said. "Call her first; see if she's alright. If the letter is from Frankie he could just be playing games with you."
"Great thinking Kellie. Here," Jackson handed me my phone. I quickly dialed her number. It rang, and rang, and…
"Aunt Suzie…" Oh thank god it was her. I breathed a sigh of relief and nodded to Jackson and Kellie. "What?... Oh no, no things are fine here. It's just that, Frankie's out of jail now. … Yea no, they released him on parole and, and well now he's gone missing…. What? No, no I don't think there's any… Aunt Suzie?…Aunt Suzie are there? Aunt Suzie!"
"Amy?"
"The line went dead." I checked my phone; the battery was still good. I hung up and dialed again. Busy.
"What happened Amy?" Kellie asked calmly.
I shook my head. "I don't know. One second everything was fine, the next there was nothing. What if he's there Jackson? What if he's gone after her and now he's cut the line?"
"Ok, darlin' here's what we do." He wrapped his arms around me. "We call it in. Call the cops. Tell them everything! Let them take care of it."
"Jackson I…"
"It's ok Amy, I'll be right here the entire time. You can do it." He wiped the tears from my eyes and handed me my phone again.
*~*
About an hour and a half later the cop finally left. The local station had sent over an officer to take my report in person. They stayed asking several questions about Frankie, and about my past. I told them as much as I could. It was difficult, but as promised Jackson stayed by my side holding my hand the entire time.
"Can you relax now Amy?" Jackson asked.
"I have to go to her."
"Amy…"
"No Jackson. I did what you wanted me to do; now I have to go to her. We've tried calling her several times both on the home line and her cell phone. She hasn't answered either. And she hasn't emailed or anything. If she were alright, she would have let me know by now. She'd know that I would worry."
"But Amy, you've done all you can. You've told the cops. They said they would contact the officer's in Bartelso and they'd check in on her." Kellie said.
I shook my head. "That's not good enough for me. I have to see for myself. They couldn't protect me and they couldn't keep Frankie locked away. Why should I believe that they can protect her now? I have to go."
"I'm coming with you." Jackson said.
"Jackson you can't be serious." Kellie protested.
"There's no arguing with her Kells, and there's no way I'm letting her go alone."
"Fine. Then I'm coming too." She grabbed her keys and wallet and walked to the door. Jackson slid his fingers through mine, and we followed after her together.
JPOV
At the airport Kellie ordered the tickets and Amy tried her Aunt again. She was scared, really scared. I hoped beyond anything that this would turn out to be just a big misunderstanding. While waiting, I thought it best to call the guys and tell them that I wouldn't be coming back today after all. But why exactly I called him, I'm not really sure.
"Ben, hey man. So uh look, there's been a change of plans. I won't be coming back today….Well because I'm on my way to Illinois now with Amy and Kellie…. Actually we're at the airport now….They've lost Frankie Ben. He's skipped out on his parole and his tracker is working. Then this morning we heard on the news that they found the body of the judge who presided over the hearing and that of Frankie's defense attorney….Amy thinks he may be involved with their death somehow and she's pretty freaked out….Why are we going?..." Should I tell him why? "Amy thinks your mom might be in trouble. She was talking to her when the line suddenly went dead. That was several hours ago now. Have you been able to talk to her recently?...You haven't?...I see…Yea, that's all Amy gets too….I'm sure it's nothing to worry about really…. Look man, I'm going to bring her back. I won't let anything happen to your cousin or your mom…Or Kellie…. I'll call you as soon as we know something.…See ya man."
I hung up just as Kellie and Amy came back. I quickly wrapped my arms around Amy.
"Any luck?" I asked. She shook her head.
"Come on, I've got the tickets. Our flight leaves in fifteen minutes. This way." Kellie said walking off.
*~*
I kept an arm around Amy and kept her close the whole way. On the flight she kept her head buried in my chest. When we arrived in Illinois Kellie rented us a car with a GPS system and drove us to Amy's house. When we arrived the sun had already set and the sky was growing dark. There was one car in the driveway, but no lights were on in the house.
"Are you ready for this Amy?" I asked, looking into her eyes.
"I have no choice Jackson. I have to make sure she's alright."
I held her face in my hands. "I love you."
"I love you." She kissed me tenderly and I didn't want to let her go.
"Come on you guys. We're doing no good just sitting out here." Kellie said and Amy pulled back slowly.
I held her hand as we walked up the front porch steps.
APOV
As we approached the front door I could feel my heart pounding in my chest. I was sure it was going to beat its way out. I reached out to open the door.
"Amy wait," Kellie stopped my hand. "Look, it's been broken into."
"He's here." I whispered, only because I didn't have the strength to speak any louder.
"Maybe we should just call it in and wait for the cops?"
"No Kells, I have to get to her."
I pushed the door open and stepped inside.
"Where do you think she'd be?" Kellie asked.
"Frankie would want to lure me in."
"Well he's succeeding." Jackson said harshly. He was obviously not happy that I was here.
"We'll look up stairs first." I ignored him.
I led the way through the familiar house, up the stairs, and down the hall to the master bedroom. I moved slowly, cautiously. Frankie could be waiting for me anywhere, and I was unarmed. I knew it was wrong to have let Jackson and Kellie come along, but I was glad that they had; they gave me a reason to be strong. I had to take care of them.
We stopped in front of the door that was the master bedroom; it was cracked open. I held my breath as I pushed it opened. My eyes slowly scanned the room looking for Frankie or Aunt Suzie; he wasn't there, but she was. She lay sprawled out on the bed, bruised and battered. I rushed to her.
"Aunt Suzie," I took her head in my hands carefully and examined her closely.
Her eye was already a dark shade of purple. Her nose was clearly broken. Her lips were pale, dry, and split. There were marks around her neck from where he had strangled her with his large, rough hands. Seeing her like this I couldn't help but to compare her to the way my mother used to look after my dad had forced himself on her. Tears were rolling down my face and a sob escaped my lips.
Her eyes flickered open. "Amy," she whispered.
"Shh Aunt Suzie, don't speak. Save your strength. Kellie she needs some water. In the bathroom next to the sink is a cup." I instructed and Kellie rushed into the adjoining bathroom.
"It's going to be alright Aunt Suzie. I'm going to take care of you now."
"Amy, Frankie…" She coughed out.
"I know, and I'm so sorry to have brought you into this mess."
"Here Amy and I brought a wet rag too." Kellie said, handing the items to me.
"Thanks. Help her sit up Jackson."
Jackson sat on the bed and carefully helped my aunt sit up enough to drink. I tilted the glass of water to her lips. Jackson laid her back down after she drank.
"She needs to get to the hospital." I said as I dabbed the rag to her wounds.
"We'll call 911 then." Jackson reached for his phone.
"No." I stopped him. "I know he's still here. We need to get her out of here, now."
"Then we'll drive her there ourselves. Can you carry her Jackson?" Kellie asked.
"Yea," he nodded and stood up. I moved out of his way. "I'm going to pick you up now Mrs. Johnson. I promise to be gentle."
She nodded weakly to tell him that she understood. Kellie led us back down the stairs and I took the rear. We made it out without any problems. In the car Kellie looked up the directions to the hospital while Jackson carefully laid Aunt Suzie in the back seat and crawled in with her. I looked back at the ominous looking house.
"Come on Amy, get in the car." Kellie said.
I shook my head.
"Amy we have your Aunt. We have what we came for. Now get in."
"No Kells. This isn't over. If I leave now he'll get away again and come back some other time. I have to end this."
Jackson got out of the car and came to me.
"Jackson get back in the car." I ordered.
"You're crazy if you think I'm going to leave you here alone."
"Jackson…
"We're not arguing about this Amy! I go where you go."
I paused. "Drive as fast as you can Kells." I instructed through the open door.
"I'll send help." She replied. I slammed the car door shut and she sped off towards the highway.
"Now what?" Jackson asked.
"We find him and we put an end to this nightmare." I looked towards the shed. "Come on, I don't want to go back in there without something to defend ourselves with."
Jackson followed me to my uncle's garden shed near the back of the house. My Uncle Paul used to keep all of his gardening tools in there: rakes, shovels, and hoes. They wouldn't cause much damage to Frankie but at least maybe we could rough him up a bit before help arrived. I lifted the chain that was wound through the handles.
"Damn it's locked."
"Let me see." Jackson said and I stepped aside. He pulled on the doors a little.
"Do these slide open?" he asked.
"Yea."
He jiggled the handle. "Shouldn't be too hard." He looked around before picking up a small boulder. He slammed the boulder down on one of the handles; he was trying to knock it off. If the situation we were in hadn't been so stressful, I probably would have been turned on by his bulging muscles. At last it gave way.
"I hope your Aunt Suzie forgives me for that."
"I'm sure she will."
I slid the doors open and stepped inside. The hot and musty smell of the garden shed rushed my nostrils and it was mildly comforting; it reminded me of how Uncle Paul would smell after working in the yard. I turned the light on and looked around for the shovels. They were in the same corner as they always were. I was about to grab two off the wall when I heard a loud noise followed by a thud.
"Jackson?" I spun around to find him but my head came in contact with a large object and I fell to the floor. The last thing I saw before my eyes flittered closed and darkness surrounded me, was Jackson's body lying perfectly still outside the shed.
Oh, I'm so mean to give you yet another cliffie! But please, just hang in there till the end. We are almost there...