Chapter 37
"Move out of the way," Amy said to Matt. "Jess wants something to eat." She opened up the fridge and looked for something to make her.
"That's got to be a good sign." Matt told her. "But there's not much left. Everyone's eating me out of house and home."
"Well this will have to do." Amy said pulling out the remaining cold cuts and bread. She got to work on making her sandwich. "When I'm done, I can go food shopping if you want."
"That would be great." He said looking at her. "I know I didn't get a chance to say this, but I really appreciate you coming and helping out."
"It's not a problem. I'm just glad I can help." She smiled at him and then went back to Jess' lunch. When she was finished she told Matt she'd be right back then went up to Jessica's room.
"Hey Jess?" She knocked on the door but didn't get any response. Amy attempted to turn the knob but the door was locked. "Jess, open the door!" She called out banging on the door harder but still got no response. She called out to her friend a few more times but still nothing.
"Matt, get up here!" Amy yelled down the stairs. Recognizing the panic in her voice he came running up the stairs with Tony and Stephanie following him close behind.
"What is it? What's wrong?" He said as they got upstairs.
"It's locked and she's not answering."
"Jess!" Matt yelled and banged on the door. "Jess, answer me!" He looked at Amy and could read what she was thinking. "No, she wouldn't do that again." He said hoping that it was true.
"Here," Tony said pushing Matt out of the way. After a few tries he kicked down the door. Amy and Matt rushed into the room, and then checked the bathroom.
"She's not in here." Amy said almost relieved until she realized what that meant. "Where is she?"
"Did you see her come down?" Matt asked her.
"No, she asked me to make her lunch and then I thought she went back to her room."
"Ames, did you actually see her go back to the room?"
"No." She said softly.
"All right, everyone spread out." Tony told them. They proceeded to check around the house and all of Matt's property. Matt met up with Tony in front of the house.
"How the hell could this happen?" He asked panicking. "What the hell are you protecting anyway?" He shoved Tony. "First my brother, and now this?"
"There's no way he was able to get in here." Tony said to him trying to calm him down.
"Then where the hell is she?" Matt asked. He felt Amy put her hand on his shoulder.
"Matt," She started softly then paused looking around. "Where's your car?" He turned and noticed for the first time that his car was not there.
"Everyone inside the house!" One of the cops ordered. "We'll figure out what is going on."
"I'll tell you what's going on; somehow this son of bitch got into my house and took Jess, with all of you doing nothing!" Matt yelled at them.
"Matt, calm down." Amy told him.
"Sir, it's very unlikely that he got in here and was able to get her out of the house without any of us seeing or hearing a struggle." The cop said.
"So what, she just walked out herself?" Matt asked and everyone was quiet. Matt shook his head. "No, she wouldn't do that. She wouldn't just leave and not say anything. Especially with everything going on; why would she do that?"
"Yea, she would," Amy said quietly. "If it meant saving Jeff."
"I'm going to kill her." Matt replied shaking his head. He had failed his brother again. All he asked was to keep her safe and he let her run off, alone.
"Look, we'll put out an APB on your car, she couldn't have gotten far." The cop told him. "Is there any way this guy could have contacted her?" They all shook their heads except Stephanie.
"She had a cell phone." Stephanie said and everyone looked at her. "I got it for her a few days ago so that we could stay in touch but I'm the only one who had the number." She tried to explain.
"Is it registered in her name?" Matt asked her.
"No, it's a company phone. I figured that way no one would be able to trace it to her."
"So then how did he get it?" Amy asked.
"We're going to need that number." The officer said. "Maybe we can trace the cell; find out where she is." She nodded and headed inside with them.
"Let's go back in." Amy said to Matt.
"I can't believe I let this happen."
"How were you supposed to know? You can't blame yourself every time something goes wrong."
"I know that but how could she be so stupid? What would possess her to just go out and try to handle this alone?"
"Love" She said to him and led him back into the house. When they entered they saw Stephanie in the kitchen with the cops and Tony was on his cell.
"Yes, sir. I know that sir." Tony held the phone away from his face cringing and Matt knew he was on the phone with Vince. He listened to Tony try to explain everything but Vince wasn't letting him get any words in. Matt went over and took the phone from him.
"Vince." Matt said as he could hear Vince yelling. "It's Matt." Surprisingly, he stopped yelling.
"What are the police doing?" Vince asked him.
"They're putting out and APB on my car and they're going to try to trace the phone. They'll find her. Did you find any sign of Jeff?"
"No, we haven't. I'm sorry. I'm coming back to the house right now to see what's going on. Hopefully, they'll be able to pick up the signal of her phone. Try not to worry, we'll find this guy somehow." Matt was amazed at the change in his tone from when he first picked up the phone. Vince McMahon was actually trying to keep him calm. "I need to speak with Tony again."
Matt handed the phone back to Tony and Tony listened for awhile then with a sigh he hung up the phone.
"I'm sorry." Tony told them. "Vince told me that she was impulsive but I didn't think she'd just go off like that. I should have been more vigilant."
"Well, Jess doesn't like to think first, and I knew that as well." Matt said.
"Needless to say, I've been fired, but I'd like to stay and help out, if that's okay with you?" Matt nodded at him.
"We got it. The phone's in use right now." They heard someone say from inside the kitchen and they all ran into the other room.
"Can you trace it?" Matt asked but everyone was moving so fast, no one answered him. A couple of the cops ran out of the house to their cars. Matt looked to Amy.
"Give me your keys." She handed them to him. "Tony, stay with Amy and Steph, I'm going with them. Tell Vince what's going on. I'll call when I hear anything."
Finally feeling like he was doing something, Matt ran to the car and followed the cop cars.
