Chapter 57
Jeff tossed and turned all night. He couldn't believe that they were all just there doing nothing while Jess was somewhere nearby. He had thought about going out, even gone downstairs but as he went to open the door he noticed that Vince had set his security alarm. If Jeff opened the door he'd wake the entire house up and then they would all just argue again. Jeff felt like a prisoner in McMahon's home.
To pass the time until they woke up Jeff explored the house. As he walked the hallways he glanced up at the pictures on the wall. He stopped and paused at one of the pictures. It was a photo of Jessica, Stephanie and Shane with their arms slung over each other's shoulders. Judging by the look of them Jess and Steph must have been about 16 or 17. Both girls were smiling big for the camera, but instead of Shane joining them he was looking to Jessica. While the look may have appeared innocent at the time, now it looked sinister. All it reminded him of now, is how long Shane had been dreaming of her.
"I figured you'd be up early." Jeff turned as he heard Vince's voice. Vince came over and glanced at the picture. "That was taken at the park. It was right before Jess found out her mom was sick. She had been staying with us while her mother was having tests run. Stephanie thought it was a good idea for us all to have a picnic to take her mind off of everything. They were happy." Vince grew silent staring at the three smiling kids. "You have to understand, he's my son."
"And what about Jess? She doesn't matter."
"Of course she does."
"But she's only like a daughter. It's not the same right?" Jeff questioned him.
"I don't want either of them hurt."
"Yea, well she has been hurt but it's not like she's blood." He said sarcastically.
"I don't appreciate what you're implying." Vince glared at him. "I care what happens to both of them. I want Jess to be safe and for Shane to get the help he needs."
"Yea, well all I care about is her. I don't give a damn what happens to Shane. He did all this and he should pay for it." They stared at each other for a few moments. "I'm gonna see if Matt's up yet." Jeff said as he walked away. He finally knew where Vince stood. He would find the best lawyers he could to ensure that Shane would avoid serious jail time regardless of what that would do to Jess. Jeff had a feeling that when this was all over Jess had lost more of her already small family.
In his anger, Jeff didn't even bother knocking on Matt's door. Instead he barged right in, hoping that if he wasn't already awake the commotion of his entrance would do the trick. Even with all the noise he made, Matt still laid sleeping in the bed. Jeff went over to his brother and shook his shoulder.
"What?" Matt said opening his eyes.
"Come on, let's go!" Jeff ordered throwing a t-shirt to his brother.
"Why? What's going on?"
"I need to get out of here, now."
"All right, calm down." Matt said getting dressed. He wondered what had happened that caused his brother to get so angry but Jeff had already left the room. He quickly ran out of the room to catch up with him.
"Dude, wait up." He called after Jeff. When Matt reached the living room he saw Vince sitting on the couch. Jeff just leaned against the wall glaring. He tried to gauge the situation as neither man would look at one another. Finally Matt caught Vince's eye.
"You can take one of my cars." Vince stated handing Matt a set of keys. "I'd prefer if you drive since your brother is a little hot headed today." Jeff moved towards him but Matt got between them.
"Look, I don't know what went down, but now is not the time."
"He's more concerned about saving his son's neck, then Jess' safety." Jeff informed him.
"I never said that." Vince argued.
"You didn't have to."
"All right, stop." Matt said to both of them. He looked to his brother. "Everyone's under a lot of pressure right now. Just keep your cool."
"I'm trying." Jeff said looking away.
"Maybe it's best if we get out there. We need something to do." He looked to Vince. "I'll give Stephanie a call and we'll meet up somewhere. If anything comes up just call me on my cell."
"Yea he'll do that." Jeff mumbled sarcastically. Matt pushed his brother to the door.
"Please." He told Vince.
"I will." Believing Vince, Matt followed Jeff out the door. The brothers silently got into the car and Matt pulled out of the driveway.
"Do you want to explain that?" He asked Jeff once they were on the road.
"Let's just call Stephanie and get to work." Jeff said shaking his head.
"It's early, let's wait a little."
"Why does everyone want to wait?"
"Jeff, she's been down south with us for awhile. Give her a little more time to be with her kids. Let's just drive a bit so you can let off some steam. I don't want you biting Steph's head off as well."
"I wasn't biting Vince's head off. He's more concerned with what happens to Shane then Jessica."
"It's his son."
"So you agree with him?" Jeff asked outraged.
"Of course not. I could give two shits about Shane and you know that. But you've got to understand Vince's point of view. It's still his son. We're doing all this because we love Jess. She's our family. Shane is his."
"So was Jess, or at least that's what he always told her."
"She is; which is why this is so hard for them. We only have one goal and that's Jess. They've got two people they care about in this."
Jeff stayed silent. He didn't agree with his brother at all. Shane was the villain in all of this and all Jeff wanted to see is him pay.
"You've got to stay calm." Matt warned his brother reading his mind. "If you're too angry, you can screw up and make things worse. Nothing rash, remember?"
"Fine, I got it. Can we just do something please?" They drove into town and Matt parked the car in a local parking lot.
"So now what?" Matt asked his brother. Jeff hadn't thought that far. All he had wanted to do was to just look for Jess but he hadn't thought of how to do it.
"Let's just ask around." He said stepping out of the car but even that didn't work. Everyone they spoke to had heard about the case but no one knew anything concrete and no one had seen Shane. After stopping at all the stores on the strip hey headed back to the car frustrated.
"Well that was productive." Jeff said sarcastically.
"I'm going to call Stephanie, see if she's up." Matt said walking away. Jeff paced around the car frustrated until his brother came back.
"Did you reach her?" He asked.
"Yea, it turns out she's been up for awhile trying to think of places to check out. She wants us to meet up at some park they used to all go to." Matt said getting into the car. "Pretty much everything is around there."
As Matt drove to the park Jeff stared out at the area. It looked like your typical upper class neighborhood. Giant houses on large green well manicured lawns. Most of them were even the same style houses, stepford like. He glanced up at one set further back from the street. Slightly hidden from the road by trees, it was more of a whimsical house. Jeff admired that there was at least one person in this community who didn't seem like a conformist. When they got to park Stephanie was already waiting with Amy.
"What happened? I came downstairs and Vince said you guys had left already." Amy asked coming up to them.
"Sorry, Jeff's had a bad morning." Matt told her.
"It's alright. I called Steph when I found out you were gone. She had already spoken to Vince. So where do we start?"
"Well, I thought we should ask around here." Stephanie said. "Agent Miller told my dad that this was where they picked up Meg."
"What about the FBI? Did they tell him what they were doing?" Jeff asked.
"He didn't say anything to me. You had him pretty fuming. He does care about Jess you know. It's just complicated." She told him. "I brought some pictures along in case anyone needed them." She handed out photos of Shane and Jess to each of them.
"Maybe we should break into groups." Amy suggested. "We'd cover more ground."
"I don't know." Matt started. He wanted to be there for Jeff but didn't think it was a good idea for the girls to go off alone.
"It'll be fine. I'll go with Jeff and you can go with Amy." Steph told him. Matt still wasn't sure but Jeff didn't give him any time.
"Whatever, let's just get going." He headed off leaving Stephanie to rush to catch up. Matt shrugged then he and Amy went off in the other direction.
"Jeff wait up!" Stephanie called after him. When she did finally reach him he was already talking to a couple on the bench.
"No, I haven't seen them, sorry." The man told him. Jeff thanked them before moving on to the next person. They walked around for a half an hour talking to people but it was the same as earlier. So far no one has seen Shane.
"This is ridiculous." Jeff said getting even more frustrated. "How is it possible that no one has seen anything? He was here yesterday."
"Maybe we're going about this wrong." Stephanie said.
"What do you mean?"
"Well, this is the last place he was, but all he did was drop off Meg and leave. Maybe we should try where he was before that."
"You mean the drug store?"
"It is a busier part of town. There would have been more people there."
"Well, this is a bust, so I'm willing to try anything. Let's get Amy and Matt and get out of here."
