Chapter 52
"Jeff," Gil nudged his son hesitantly. He had wanted him to rest as much as possible but the detectives kept pressing to talk to him. "Son, wake up!" Jeff stirred and opened his eyes.
"Hey." He said then looked around the room and noticed they weren't alone. "Who are they?"
"These are some agents from the FBI. They need to ask you a few questions, if you're up to it."
"Yea." Jeff said pulling himself up.
"Mr. Hardy, I'm Agent Miller. We just have a few things we need you to clear up for us."
"Did you find her?" Jeff asked him.
"We're working on it, sir, and we hope you can help us." He told him.
"What do you need?"
"Did McMahon give you any clues about what he had planned?"
"No. All he said kept saying was that he and Jess were meant to be together. He didn't give any leads."
"How would you describe their relationship?"
"Why?" Jeff asked.
"We're just looking for anything. Maybe there was something between them, or something she did that might have made him think they had a relationship?"
"What, like his is her fault?" Jeff said angrily. "Do you think she asked for this, because she didn't? The only thing she's guilty of is trusting people too much."
"No, I didn't mean that. Maybe there was something that he could have misconstrued as love, something he would have fixated on. What about when they were younger, was there anything she remembered fondly?" Agent Miller asked. Frustrated, Jeff struggled to come up with something but not much jumped into his mind.
"She grew up with him. The McMahon's were her family, even after she moved away; she still spent every summer up there. To her, Shane was a big brother. Other than that, she never liked to talk about her childhood."
"I understand."
"No, I don't think you do. You don't know her; not like I do. I love her death, but she doesn't always handle things in the best way. Look at what happened the last time Shane harassed her, she tried to kill herself. Everyone says that she's strong, that she'll pull through." Jeff paused.
"You don't think so?"
"I have to. She's my world too. I'm just scared of what she'll do when she gets desperate."
"From what everyone's told me about her she is stronger and smarter than she was back then. I mean look at what she did to find you?" Miller said trying to reassure him.
"Yea and look where that got her." Jeff said sarcastically and Agent Miller paused not sure where to go from there.
"Who is Meg Samuelson?" He asked trying to change the subject.
"Meg? She's my ex."
"How does she know Shane?"
"She doesn't, at least not well. She may have seen him a couple of times at work and she caught him breaking into my house the day I was attacked." Miller nodded at Jeff and stood up to leave. Something about the look on his face bothered Jeff.
"Thank you, Mr. Hardy. If we need anything else we'll let you know."
"Wait." Jeff called out to him. "Please, this waiting around is killing me. I have to know something. What is this lead every keeps talking about and why did you ask about Meg?"
"I'm not at liberty to say right now." Miller told him.
"Please, tell me what's going on." Jeff pleaded with him. He tried to get up from the bed but his father came over to stop him.
"Jeff, no." Gil warned him.
"I have to do something. She's need me." The tone of his voice reached the agent and he came back over to the bed.
"We were able to trace Mr. McMahon's cell phone. He last used it to phone your ex girlfriend."
"Why?" Jeff asked.
"We don't know. It could be he was looking to see what was going on, see what she knew or maybe something more. We sent some agents out to speak with her but her last known address is listed as yours. We haven't been able to locate her."
"How did Shane know how to reach her?"
"He called her cell. We've put out another trace on her phone to find her location." Another agent came in and Miller excused himself going over to them. Jeff struggled to over hear their conversation. Due to their muted tone, he couldn't hear much but he was able to make out Connecticut.
"We'll keep you informed." Agent Miller said to Jeff before walking out the door with the other agents.
"What was that about?" Gil asked.
"Get the doctor." Jeff ordered.
"Why are you hurt?" Jeff shook his head at his father.
"Just get him and Matt too." Gil didn't know what was going on but something told him not to argue. When he stepped outside he saw Amy waiting.
"Amy go get Matt. Jeff's looking for him." Gil told her then headed to the nurse's station to have the doctor paged. When he got back to the room, Matt and Amy were already there.
"Okay, what's going on?" Gil asked when they were all settled.
"I overheard them." Jeff told his father. "I couldn't make out much but I did hear them say Connecticut. That has to be where Shane took her."
"Wait, he took Jess home?" Matt asked.
"He couldn't have. Stephanie said the cops had already been there and Marissa hadn't spoken to Shane in days." Amy told them.
"Well he's got to have her somewhere around there because that's where I think they traced his phone." Jeff said.
"Yea, but how do you know for sure?"
"I don't, but as soon as Agent Miller found that out they took off. So either it was him or Meg."
"Wait, Jeff slow down. What does Meg have to do with this?" Matt questioned him.
"The last phone call Shane placed was to Meg. They think he was trying to get information out of her."
"She was here." Amy said.
"When?" Jeff asked her.
"When they were waking you up." Matt answered. "She just appeared and asked how you were doing. Amy gave her a few choice words and then she left."
"I saw her in the cafeteria." Stephanie said from the doorway. "I'm sorry, I didn't mean to eavesdrop."
"It's okay." Jeff told her gesturing for her to come all the way in.
"She apologized and I guess I felt sorry for her so I told her what was going on." She told them all.
"So we can assume now that Shane knows what's going on." Matt said.
"And that doesn't bode well for Jess." Jeff speculated.
"What can I do for you?" Jeff's doctor asked coming in.
"When do I get out of here?"
"You have some serious injuries, probably not for a few days." He told him.
"Not good enough. I want out now." Jeff said and everyone looked at him surprised.
"Why?" Gil asked.
"Because if Jess is in Connecticut, then that's where I'm going to be."
"Mr. Hardy, you suffered some serious injuries," The doctor started.
"I know all that." Jeff cut him off. "I don't care."
"You need to rest." Gil said.
"I'll rest when she's right next to me!"
"Try to calm down." Matt warned him. "We understand you're frustrated but you've been down for days."
"I'm fine." To prove his point Jeff pulled down the blanket and swung his legs over.
"Jeff, don't." Gil ordered but Jeff ignored him. He pushed himself off the bed and onto his feet. He was wobbly at first and Matt reached out to help him but Jeff shook him off. He took a few steps then turned to Stephanie.
"Can you get your Dad to fly us out?" He asked and she nodded. "Good, because I'm signing myself out. Now."
