Chapter 20 – The Phone Call
"Have you and your daughter had problems before?"
Lita sighed as she realised that all the questions from here on in were just going to get worse.
1 month. 4 weeks. 30 days. 720 hours. And Heidi Maree Orton was still missing.
This wasn't the first time Randy and Lita had met with police detectives related to the kidnapping of their daughter. This was actually the seventh time so far Lita recalled. There were only two policemen and one detective this time, compared to the handful that was usually present. But despite the number changing, each and everytime they were asked the same questions and each and everytime they gave the same answers.
It was hard for Lita to know how exactly she felt about the constant intrusion from the police. The questions they asked weren't always the best questions. They weren't always the questions that Lita and Randy wanted to hear and they weren't always the questions that Lita and Randy had the answers too. However, the more questions were asked the more information the police had which would hopefully in turn help them uncover where Heidi was.
Right now there were absolutely no leads. Neither Randy, nor Lita, nor the police, nor anyone that had come forward thus far. There were no clues. There was simply nothing that even hinted slightly where Heidi Orton could possibly be. It was completely impossible to comprehend for Lita how an 18-year-old girl could go missing from a highly publicized event at a high security arena without so much as a lead. There were no unusual fingerprints on the inside of Randy Orton's locker room at the arena from Wrestlemania. There were no shoe prints. There were no tire tracks. There were no witnesses. There was nothing for police to go from. That's why they were here again in Dawn and Jeff's home in Atlanta, Georgia interviewing Lita and Randy.
"I'm on the road 300 days a year," Randy sighed, trying to keep his cool "The fact that I barely get to see my daughter means that the time we spend together is precious and we don't waste it fighting or arguing."
Lita squeezed the 3rd generation superstar's hand in hers, assuring him that she was there with him for support. The red head knew that these questionings were harder on Randy than they were for her. She was always the calmer of the two of them and she was always better able to compose herself if need be. Randy was headstrong and he let his emotions come before reason. It was one of the things that Lita loved about him – that he had become a man that wasn't afraid to shy away from his emotions. Right now though, he needed to control his emotions and that's where she came in.
"And you Mrs Orton?" the detective asked, turning to face Lita and drawing the red head out of her thoughts.
"It's just been me and my daughter for 18 years," Lita spoke immediately "She is our only child. She and I are close. Very very close. Apart from the odd argument inevitable from living with a teenage girl, we've never had any real problems."
The detective simply nodded and then glanced down at the sheet of paper infront of him.
"Has your daughter ever run away before?" the detective asked, looking at Lita and then to Randy.
"No," Lita answered, shaking her head "Never."
"She's never come home late? Broke curfew?" the detective followed up.
"No," Lita answered, shaking her head once more "She spent a lot of time at home during high school."
"What about on weekends?" the detective asked.
"What do you mean?" Lita asked, not sure exactly what the detective meant.
"Did she go out on weekends?" the detective explained, his eyes focused hard on Lita making the red head a little uneasy.
"Of course," Lita nodded, diverting her eyes to her hands in her lap to calm herself before continuing "I mean she had friends she would go out with on weekends through high school. Movies, lunch, things like that."
"Female friends?" the detective asked.
"She only went on two dates during high school if that's where you're going with that question," Randy suddenly butted in.
The detective's eyes shot a curious glance at Randy and they remained there for some moments before he turned back to Lita.
"Does she currently have a boyfriend, or has she been involved with any boys as of late?" the detective asked.
"She is… or at least she was…um," Lita started before she took a deep breath in and closed her eyes momentarily to compose herself.
"Tyler Hadson," Randy took over, his arm automatically wrapping itself tighter around his wife "He works for the WWE as a wrestler and he was dating Heidi before she was taken."
"I see," the detective commented.
He paused a moment to look down at his clipboard infront of him before turning his gaze to the officer to his right that was in charge of the recording. The laptop recorder was sitting infront of the officer and once he had realized the detective's gaze on him he simply nodded as if to indicate that recording was still in session. The detective simply nodded before turning his gaze back to Randy and Lita.
"Do you think your career has put a strain on your relationship with your daughter Mr Orton?" the detective suddenly asked, drawing Randy's attention out of his own thoughts.
Randy pursed his lips shut in order to initially let out the words that were coming up like vomit. He was, by any means, trying to find our the whereabouts of his daughter, but it was questions like these that made him want to jump across Dawn and Jeff's dining room table and give that detective a busted lip.
"Like I mentioned earlier," Randy started, his words slow in order to try and calm his emotions "I am on the road 300 days a year. Do I, therefore, have limited amounts of time with my daughter? Yes. Has it put a strain on our relationship? No. Especially not now."
"Why especially not now?" the detective questioned, drawing on Randy's words.
"After finishing high school in March," Randy explained, raising his eyes to meet the detective's "Heidi and my wife were travelling with me on the road 24/7. If there were any strains on our relationship from being apart, they would not have all of a sudden have built up in the short span of time where we were spending the most amount of time together."
"So you don't think she ever felt neglected due to your constant absence in her life growing up?" the detective suggested.
Randy immediately shook his head and squeezed his wife's hand. Lita knew what that meant. She knew the signal.
"I gave up my career to raise my daughter," Lita suddenly spoke, drawing the detective's attention and allowing her husband to cool down before he erupted in a fit of emotions "I gave up my career with the WWE in order to give my daughter a normal childhood. She grew up a normal girl and I was always there with her every step of the way. Every summer we would travel on the road to allow her to be closer to her father and to make up for all the time throughout the year that she missed being with him."
The detective eyed the red head and Lita gauged from the expression on his face that he was not completely satisfied with the answer. Having no leads it was often speculation between Randy and Lita that the police thought they were hiding something. Randy and Lita were the closest and easiest people to assume had something to do with their daughter's disappearance, especially with no leads and no where else to look. It was the prime reason that Randy and Lita were so reluctant to meet with them so often. It is every parent's nightmare to have their child go missing and more often than not, most parents blame themselves when these things happen. Having beaten themselves up for 4 weeks already, Randy and Lita did not need more people trying to blame them for Heidi's disappearance. They needed more people trying to help them find Heidi. Lita watched as the detective sighed and leaned back in his chair, his arms folding across his chest as he stared at the couple infront of him.
"Have you ever hit your daughter Mr Orton?" the detective asked, raising an eyebrow at the 3rd generation superstar.
"I beg your pardon?!" Randy immediately asked, completely shocked and hoping he heard the detective incorrectly.
"I asked you, under oath, Mr Orton," the detective repeated, speaking more slowly and clearly "Have you ever hit your daughter?"
"You think because I am a professional wrestler that I automatically hit my daughter, is that?!" Randy exclaimed, raising his voice.
"Well as you have yet to answer the question Mr Orton…..," the detective started before Randy cut him off.
"There is no way that I would ever lay a hand on my daughter!" Randy exclaimed in his defense "Not that I see how that has anything to do with finding my daughter in the first place!"
"Not even when she was younger?" the detective further questioned.
His tone remaining calm and his eyes fixed on Randy.
"Apart from spanking when she was younger we have never ever hit our daughter," Lita interjected.
Her voice was not quite as outraged as Randy's was, but her tone was stern.
"So then you have hit your daughter before then haven't you?" the detective pushed "Both of you infact."
"There is a big difference between a disciplinary spank to a toddler and physically abusing your teenage daughter and you and I both know that," Lita immediately answered, staring straight at the detective.
The detective looked straight back at Lita and yet if he was intimidated her answer, or the tone she delivered it in, he didn't show. He simply paused and looked down at this piece of paper before placing both his hands on the table infront of him.
"Why on Earth would anyone want to kidnap your daughter?" the detective asked nonchalantly, as if making out that Randy and Lita were making a big deal out of nothing.
As if there was no way that Heidi Orton could have been kidnapped. As if he was wasting his time here. As if he had better things to do. Randy could hear it in his voice and that was the last straw.
"I don't know!" Randy started practically yelling at the detective "We have no idea who has taken our daughter and we have no idea why! Do you really think we'd be here wasting our time with you idiots if we knew all that! Really?!"
The detective merely raised his eyebrows at Randy.
"There is no need for the hostile attitude Mr Orton," the detective began "Unless you have something to hide."
"Oh my god this is not going anywhere!" Randy exclaimed in response, not bothering at all to lower his tone as he ran both his hands through his short brown hair in frustration "How do you expect me to react when you start asking these questions and basically suggesting that I had anything to do with my daughter's disappearance."
"Did you?" the detective asked, once again raising his eyebrow at Randy.
"Did I what?!" Randy asked, his eyes narrowing at the detective.
"Did you have anything to do with your daughter's disappearance?" the detective asked, still keeping his cool and remaining calm despite Randy's yelling.
"Are you even listening to his answers?!" Jeff finally jumped in.
Lita was startled, especially because she was about to jump in to stop Randy from saying anymore on the matter. Lita had almost forgotten that she and Randy were currently in Jeff and Dawn's home. She had certainly forgotten that Jeff and Dawn were even in the same room. Everytime the detectives had come to ask questions of she and Randy, Jeff and Dawn insisted on being present for support. The policemen and detectives were wary at first but Dawn had made it very clear that if they were going to come into her home and they were going to ask questions related to her god daughter then she was going to present whether they liked it or not.
"Mr Hardy I do not believe that the detective is speaking to you," the police officer stepped in, taking to his feet to match that Jeff had done the same.
"I don't care if the detective is talking to me or not!" Jeff exclaimed at the officer, yet remaining where he was "None of these questions are helping anyone! And they're certainly not helping to find out where Heidi is."
The detective simply turned around from his seat at the Orton dining room table and faced Jeff Hardy.
"I am simply doing my job Mr Hardy," the detective coldly replied "And if you wouldn't mind sitting down and being quiet then maybe we could actually get somewhere."
"That is a load of bullshit!" Jeff exclaimed, "All you want to hear is that Randy and Lita did have something to do with Heidi's disappearance and you're not going to get that because they didn't!"
"Mr Hardy if you don't sit down I'm going to have to ask you to….," the police officer started.
"Randy and Lita love their daughter more than life itself!" Jeff continued to ramble on "There is nothing they wouldn't do for their daughter! There is nothing in the world they wouldn't give to have their daughter home and safe! Nothing!"
"Mr Hardy!" the police officer exclaimed, trying to increase the volume of his tone in order for Jeff to hear it above his own loud voice "I am going to ask you one more time to sit down and be quiet, otherwise I am going to have to forcefully…."
"Will everyone just calm down here?!" Dawn Marie suddenly exclaimed, drawing all eyes towards her because it was the first time she had spoken since letting the policemen and the detective into her home.
Dawn had a strong voice and so it was easy for her to capture the attention of a room when she had to. The room became instantly silent.
"This is pointless and we're not getting anywhere," Dawn continued, taking a step forward to stand next to Jeff as she took his hand "We all just need to calm down."
"Dawn's right," Lita nodded as she forced a small smile in Dawn's direction.
The red head then turned to face the detective sitting directly infront of her.
"We have told you absolutely everything that we know in regards to what happened that night and Heidi's disappearance," Lita spoke "We know absolutely nothing about where she might be or who she might be with. We have no idea if she was taken against her will either. The only thing we know is that we know our daughter. We know that she would never just pack up and leave without her belongings, without her cell phone and especially not without notifying either one of us, a friend or family. There is no question. The text message on her phone that we received that night is the only thing we have with so much as a spark of hope that it could lead to a clue that could lead to our daughter. Without that text we have absolutely nothing. We have nothing that we haven't already told you. You know just about as much as we do right now."
The detective simply nodded as he processed Lita's words.
"Look you two seem like nice people," the detective started, looking from Lita to Randy and back "It's just that usually when people go missing and they're well known in the public eye like your daughter was, and like you both are, there is usually some form of ransom or some incentive that presents itself immediately after the said person goes missing. In the case of your daughter there's absolutely nothing. Not a single clue, not a single lead, not a ransom."
"Have you had anymore of these strange phone calls or text messages since the one to your daughter's cell phone the night she went missing?" one of the policemen suddenly spoke.
Without even looking up from the spot on the table where his eyes were currently focused on, Randy Orton shook his head.
"The texts and the phone calls have completely stopped," Randy stated "They were completely regular – same time, same message, up until that night and now absolutely nothing."
"And the trace of the phone call turned up nothing?" the detective inquired.
"Nothing," Lita shook her head "The phone company said that the messages were made from a series of different phone numbers, each which had been disconnected since."
"So what's the motif then?" the detective asked himself out loud "What could the motif possibly be for someone to kidnap your teenage daughter without so much as a….."
Ring Ring! Ring Ring!
The detective immediately stopped speaking as soon as Randy's cell phone started ringing.
"Sorry," Randy brushed off as he reached for his phone.
"Don't reject the call!" the detective suddenly exclaimed.
"Why not?" Randy asked, curiously as he retrieved his cell phone.
"Who's calling?" Lita asked, turning to her husband.
"It's an unknown number," Randy answered checking the display.
Ring Ring! Ring Ring!
"Answer it," the detective asked quickly, his eyes lighting up.
"Put it on speakerphone so we can pick it up over the recording devices," the policeman suggested.
Randy was hoping to all God that this unknown number wasn't just going to do what it usually did and hang up as soon as Randy answered. He was praying with everything he had that when he answered the cell phone he'd hear someone on the other end. He was praying that it was his daughter.
Randy placed his cell phone in the centre of the dining room table. He took a deep breath as the two policemen, Jeff and Dawn all came closer. Randy put the call on speakerphone.
Ring Ring! Ring Ring!
Randy took a moment to glance up at the detective, who gave him a nod, before he answered the call.
"Randy Orton speaking," Randy spoke tentatively.
Everyone held their breath as the other end of the call was completely silent. Randy could hear someone breathing in the background but no voice. The detective motioned for Randy to speak again into the cell phone.
"Hello? This is Randy Orton," Randy repeated, trying to make his voice a little louder and clearer.
"Daddy?" a small meek voice spoke from the other end of the call.
"Heidi?" Randy asked.
It was unnecessary, but he still asked it. Mostly to make sure he wasn't hallucinating because he'd recognize his daughter's voice anywhere.
"Oh my god Heidi is that you?!" Lita suddenly jumped in. The words just tumbling straight out of her mouth in both surprise and amazement.
"Yes it's me. Mom is that you?" Heidi answered. He voice, though was still soft.
"Yes Heidi it's us," Randy answered exhaling a deep breath.
"Are you OK sweetheart? Please tell me you're OK," Lita jumped in again. Her words fast, as if she was speaking as fast as she could just in case all of a sudden the phone call ended.
"I'm OK mom. I miss you and Dad though. I miss you a lot," Heidi replied, the sudden tears evident in her voice.
"We miss you too baby. We're so glad you're OK. I'm so glad to hear your voice," Lita replied immediately. The tears starting to well in her eyes and the lump rising in her throat as she squeezed Randy's hand.
"Heidi, where are you?" Randy asked, trying to keep himself calm and trying to get as much information as he could out of his daughter.
"I don't know," Heidi replied "I have no idea where I am or who these people are."
Randy's eyes rose from the cell phone to meet the detective's. The detective mouthed to him "how many of them are there?"
"How many of them are there?" Randy asked.
"Three. Three men," Heidi replied.
The detective mouthed to Randy again - "does she know any of them?"
"Do you know who any of them are?" Randy asked, as instructed.
"No I don't," Heidi simply replied "They wear masks all the time."
"Are they listening?" Randy asked as his eyes turned back to the cell phone infront of him.
"Yes," Heidi replied with a small sniffle "They're listening to every word I say."
"Heidi it's going to be OK baby. We're going to find you. We're going to bring you home OK," Lita quickly interjected "It's going to be OK."
"They want to speak to you now Dad," Heidi spoke.
"Heidi I love you. Your mom and I both love you. Don't you forget that," Randy quickly spoke, trying to get everything out that he wanted to say to his daughter before she left the conversation.
"I love you both," Heidi replied, the tears building up in her voice again.
"Be brave honey," Randy added.
"Dad, whatever you do don't do what they want! Don't let them …..ARG!" Heidi's phrase was abruptly ended with a sharp scream.
"HEIDI!" Lita exclaimed at the cell phone.
"Randy!" Lita exclaimed as she collapsed into the arms of her husband "Oh God Randy they have her!"
"Orton your daughter is a firecracker just like your wife," a male voice sounded out of the cell phone.
"Who the hell is this?" Randy asked, trying to keep his calm though he could feel the anger building up inside him as he held his wife tightly against him.
"She's beautiful though your daughter," the man spoke again, the smirk evident in his voice "Little Heidi Maree. Such a beautiful young woman she is now."
"I swear I will fucking rip your head off if you so much as touch her," Randy sternly spoke, his words loud and clear.
"Oh Orton, I'd like to see you try," the man chuckled to himself briefly "Now you better listen to what I have to say right now because it's very important if you ever want to see your daughter again."
"What do you want?" Randy asked coldly.
"Well it's not so much what I want but what you're willing to give me Orton," the man spoke again.
"What is it going to take to get Heidi back to us safely? I will do whatever it takes," Randy stated.
"Don't be so bold Orton, you haven't even heard what I need done first," the man spoke "There are a number of things you need to do in order to get your daughter back to you in one piece."
"You sick bastard," Randy spat into the phone, the anger in him rising more quickly as he continued to listen to the man on the otherend of the phone that was holding his daughter against her will.
"Are you listening Orton?" the man asked casually.
"Yeah I'm listening," Randy answered.
"First of all I want you to decide who is more important to you," the man said.
"What do you mean?" Randy asked, eyeing the cell phone carefully.
"Well before we can go any further I need to know," the man spoke "Who do you love more? Your daughter or your wife?"
Beep Beep Beep Beep Beep.
A/N: Hello everyone! Sorry it has been soo long since an update! Unfortunately this chapter was immensely hard to write because I've been away from the One Secret/My Daughter universe for soo long so I really hope you guys like it! Please read and review and let me know how I did with this one More regular updates for this story are on their way. Going to start working on Chapter 21 – Frustration, tomorrow night and I'll get it to you in the next week. READ & REVIEW PLEASE! Love Mrs Bridget Orton xxx
PS: I have just joined twitter so if you have an account please add me so we can talk all things WWE and fanfiction - mrsbridgetorton.