Chapter 22 – Eleven
2 days earlier…
"Mr and Mrs Orton," the detective before them spoke "Please come in and take a seat."
Randy took his wife's hand as he nodded at the detective before him. The man's familiar face offered a nod in return as Randy and Lita crossed the room to take their seat. There they were again in those all too familiar seats in the middle of the room.
This was the 9th or 10th time that Randy and Lita had been asked here since Heidi Orton went missing. Lita couldn't exactly remember how many times it had been and frankly she didn't care. It was such a small matter in the grand scheme of things and it wasn't exactly something that was going to help find her daughter.
Lita sighed as she looked around the room. The painfully bare white walls and the sparse furniture spoke exactly how she was feeling right now. Empty. And not just an emptiness that could be filled by anything, but an emptiness that was specific to her missing her daughter. The one piece in the puzzle of her life that she needed, because for 18 years she had grown to consider her daughter a part of herself. Without Heidi, Lita's life was empty. She did have Randy, and she had thanked every higher power she could think of everyday for bringing him into her life, but the God's honest truth was that he could never fill that emptiness caused by Heidi not being here.
Lita looked around the room again and it was exactly the same as it had been last week when she and Randy had been called into the police station. There were the two chairs that Randy and Lita were currently occupying, there was a simply wooden desk infront of them, another chair on the other side of the desk and a large TV screen built into the wall in front of them. The red head was brought out of her thoughts as the detective closed the door behind him and proceeded to take a seat in the only other vacant chair in the room.
"So basically today we wanted to look over the security footage from the arena where your daughter was last seen," the detective spoke as he retrieved a remote control from one of the drawers inbuilt into the wooden desk.
"What?!" Lita suddenly exclaimed, shocked at what she was hearing "There's security footage from the night Heidi was taken?!" The detective nodded and opened his mouth to speak before Randy Orton interrupted him.
"Why were we not told there was footage?!" Randy exclaimed, his shock matching that of Lita's "We were never at any point told there was security footage!"
"That's simply because we had issues obtaining the footage in the first place," the detective explained calmly, as he looked from Randy to Lit and back again.
"What do you mean?" Lita inquired, the shock still evident in her voice and the speed at which the words were tumbled out of her mouth.
"Obviously someone didn't want anyone to see this footage," the detective explained "The security guard on duty claimed that he never left his post that night but when detectives turned up at the arena asking for security footage tapes from that night no one was able to find the tapes."
"So all the security tapes were missing?" Randy inquired.
"No," the detective answered "Only the tapes from that day."
"How would someone have just taken the security tapes?" Lita asked, still not quite understanding how something as highly guarded as security tapes from an arena could have just vanished.
"There are two possibilities that we have settled on Mrs Orton," the detective answered "Either the security guard on duty did leave his post, for whatever reason that was, and someone was able to get into the security office and take the tapes from that day, or someone gave that security guard a little incentive to do the dirty work. Either way we have taken that particular security guard into questioning and he is being held here under the suspicion that he could indeed have been involved in your daughter's kidnapping."
Randy nodded as he processed everything that the detective was currently telling him. He already knew from the phone call he'd had from Heidi and her kidnappers that there were 3 men with his daughter that were currently holding her against her will. Randy didn't even stop to think that there could have been others involved. Others that helped those 3 men take his daughter in the first place. The thought that there could be 4, 5 or maybe more people involved in this made his blood boil. It honestly made him want to put his fist through that table in front of him.
"So, how did you find the security tapes?" Lita asked, bringing Randy back to the present as she squeezed his hand.
"We actually didn't find the tapes," the detective answered "But we were able to make new ones."
"What do you mean?" Randy questioned, not sure what the detective meant.
"Wrestlemania is one of the biggest events of the year in the US," the detective explained "And therefore for the arenas that hold Wrestlemania it is a huge huge deal. It only makes sense then that all security footage throughout the arena is backed up on a hard drive as well as recorded onto security footage tapes. This was obviously something that the people that took these tapes didn't know – it's something that most of the security guards in the arena are unaware of."
Lita and Randy nodded as they processed the information that the detective had told them. New news was always good news when it came to Heidi's disappearance, but every time a new bit of news was put forward to the Ortons it took longer and longer to process.
"Have you viewed the footage yet?" Lita suddenly asked, breaking the silence that was enveloping the room.
The detective nodded.
"I have watched it a number of times since I received it," the detective honestly answered "I thought it be best if I had a look as a professional for things I think might be useful before I let the two of you view it to decipher anything I can't or even to pick up anything I might have missed."
"Well, can we see it now then?" Randy immediately spoke, almost interrupting the detective with his impatience.
"That's why we're here," the detective nodded before he turned his back on Randy and Lita and attended to the TV behind him.
"So, the footage starts at 7pm, 1 hour before Wrestlemania began televising," the detective spoke as he took a seat in the chair opposite Randy and Lita, behind the wooden desk "The footage is from a security camera that overlooks the dressing room that was currently being occupied by Mr Orton for the entirety of the broadcast."
The detective took a remote control from a drawer on his side of the desk and pressed one of the buttons which turned on the TV.
Lita's eyes immediately saw the point of view of the security camera the detective was talking about. The image was in black and white and the focus was slightly off – typical of the types of security camera footage that Lita had seen in the past before. The image had a digital clock in the bottom right hand corner of the screen which currently read 04/10/2022 19:01:03 – 7:01pm on the 10th April 2022. 1 hour before Wrestlemania 38 was due to start.
"So, I'm going to start playing and if you'd both just like to tell me what you see," the detective started as he pressed the play button on the remote. Lita watched as the clock started moving. 19:01:03 to 19:01:04 to 19:01:05. The red head quickly averted her eyes from the moving clock and focused on trying to view everything on the screen at the same time. She could see the backstage hallway leading to Randy's dressing room that night. She could just see in the bottom right of the screen the corner of the corridor which led from Randy's dressing room into the hallway towards the rest of the superstar's dressing rooms. There were crates on the left hand side of the screen and some backstage equipment as well. She could also see on the right hand side of the screen, the door entry into Randy's dressing room.
"Was there no security footage from inside Randy's dressing room from that night?" Lita asked the detective, her eyes not leaving the screen as she continued to watch the footage.
"No," she heard the detective reply "Due to privacy laws, the inside of all arena dressing rooms are security camera free."
Lita nodded as she continued to keep her eyes on the screen in front of her.
"So, Mrs Orton," the detective spoke "What do you see?"
"Nothing right now," Lita immediately replied, not taking her eyes off the TV screen "Just the backstage area. No! Wait!"
"I see me," Randy suddenly spoke "That's me coming out of my dressing room."
Lita nodded, there was Randy onscreen dressed casually in his sweats leaving his dressing room and heading down the corridor. The time read 19:10:06.
"That was when I was headed to the Skybox to watch Heidi sing the national anthem," Randy explained as he continued to watch the screen until his image disappeared down the corridor "I decided to head off early because I wanted to catch Heidi in the guerilla area before she went on."
The detective simply nodded.
"I was security footage from other parts of the arena confirming that Mr Orton," the detective explained "The footage shows you heading straight from your dressing room to the guerilla area to see your daughter. You were stopped twice along the way."
"Once by Cena, John Cena, who was telling me to let Heidi know that he would be coming to see her in the guerilla area as well, and the second time was by a stagehand who was confirming my entrance regime for the night," Randy simply explained, the explanation speaking nothing but the truth.
The detective nodded.
"Then after you saw your daughter you headed straight to the Skybox correct?" the detective asked.
Randy nodded.
"I wasn't stopped by any fans on the way," Randy explained "Just on the way back after I had watched Heidi sing."
"Nothing else happens in the footage until 8pm," the detective spoke as he pressed the fast forward button on the remote and Lita and Randy watched the footage move in fast-forward.
The detective stopped the footage at 19:57:05.
"Who the hell is that?!" Randy suddenly exclaimed, his eyes confused by what he was seeing on the screen.
"That is one of the things I need you to help me decipher," the detective spoke as the paused the footage and pointed to the screen "Tell me what you see Mrs Orton."
Lita didn't know how she felt as she looked at the footage as the detective continued to play it.
"There's a man right there," Lita spoke "He's wearing black from head to toe, it even looks like he's wearing a balaclava. He looks about 6 foot, maybe only just. He's pretty well-built."
"Anything else to add Mr Orton?" the detective asked as he turned to Randy.
"He looks like a wrestler," Randy said "I mean the way he walked straight into the dressing room, the fact that he was in the building to start with. He wasn't even looking over his shoulder to see if anyone was watching him. He's built bigger than me ontop so he definitely works out a lot."
The detective nodded.
"So basically, the footage then goes on to show that the man that just entered your locker room, Mr Orton, doesn't exit the locker room for the next half an hour," the detective continued "During this time security footage confirms that your daughter sung the national anthem and then immediately went into the guerilla area where she was met with a Mr John Cena."
Lita and Randy nodded.
"Mr Cena then received a phone call whilst he was with your daughter and so she left him and on her own made her way straight to the locker room, only stopping occasionally to meet with various people backstage, I'm assuming who were congratulating her on her performance on stage," the detective continued "She then had an encounter with a Mr Ash Irvine. Your daughter's boyfriend, a Mr Tyler Hadson, then interrupted their encounter. Does that all sound right?"
"Yes," Randy answered.
"OK, so then security footage shows there was a confrontation between Mr Irvine and Mr Hadson which results in Mr Irvine delivering a straight right hand to Mr Hadson which required paramedic attention."
"Yes that's right," Lita answered this time.
"Following the incident, Mr Hadson was taken away with paramedics, Mr Irvine returned to his locker room and your daughter headed to your locker room," the detective continued "Now if we play the footage from here we can see exactly what happened to your daughter once she left Mr Hadson and Mr Irvine."
Lita and Randy drew their eyes to the TV screen once more as the detective fast-forwarded to 20:32:07. A breath hitched in Lita's throat as she watched her daughter appear on the TV screen. Heidi was heavily breathing as she pressed her back against the concrete wall just around the corner on the way to Randy Orton's dressing room. Lita watched as her daughter took a moment before she brushed herself off and walked in the direction of Randy's locker room. Heidi walked straight up to the Orton locker room door and opened it before she stopped.
"What's she doing?" Randy asked, not sure if he was actually asking anyone in the room or whether he was just wondering aloud.
"I'm not sure," the detective replied "She appears to stop outside the door for a couple of minutes before she actually enters. I couldn't figure out from the footage why she was hesitating entering the room. Do you think it was because she recognized the person inside?"
"I don't think so," Lita immediately replied, shaking her head "If she had recognized the person immediately she would have either entered straight away or just turned and walked away."
"She hesitated but now she's actually walked into my locker room," Randy commented as the three of them watched Heidi do so.
The time was 20:38:55.
A couple of minutes passed and Randy and Lita sat in silence with the detective as they intently focused their attention on the TV screen. It was driving Lita crazy that this security footage had no audio because she had no idea what was going on inside the locker room and she desperately wanted to know because it would probably tell her what had happened to her daughter. Lita suddenly gasped as she watched another black disguised figure appear from the corner of the footage. The second person entered the Orton locker room and slammed the door behind him.
Neither Lita nor Randy knew what to say so they didn't say anything as they waited in anticipation as to what they would see next. Lita gasped again when suddenly the door to the Orton locker room opened and the two men exited the locker room. The red head could feel the tears welling up in her eyes as she watched the two disguised men carry her daughter's motionless body out of the locker room, into the corridor and out of the camera frame. The detective pressed pause on the footage. The time read 20:45:00.
"I arrived back at my locker room only a couple of minutes after that," Randy suddenly spoke "I remember checking my watch when I got back into the locker room and the time was 8:47pm."
The detective nodded.
"That's the time we have you entering back into the locker room on the security footage as well," the detective nodded.
"So, is that all the footage there is?" Lita asked, looking at the detective, clearly wanting more answers for what she had just seen.
"Unfortunately, yes," the detective spoke "We have no further information of how the two men got out of the arena because we do not have security cameras in the parking lot either. There were no witnesses that saw your daughter being taken with them."
Lita sighed as she turned and look at Randy. His eyes were focused on a spot on the wooden table in front of him.
"So, there's no footage of any getaway cars or anything?" Randy asked, his eyes not leaving the table spot he was still staring at.
"One security guard working in the parking lot that night described a potential white van that make a hastily exit from the arena parking lot around the same time that your daughter was taken from your locker room," the detective spoke "But nothing that creates a big enough lead to follow up on, especially because it's just an assumption. The security guard didn't actually see anyone get in or out of the van, nor could he see who was driving."
Ring ring! Ring ring!
Everyone in the room froze as soon as Randy Orton's cell phone started ringing. Every time Randy's phone started ringing, Lita could always feel her heart pounding in her chest and her stomach in her throat. 99% of the time it was just a friend or Randy's family checking in on him, but Lita would still anticipate that it could be the kidnappers with word about her daughter.
Randy nodded as he retrieved his cell phone and the caller display read Unknown number.
"Unknown number?" the detective asked with a raised eyebrow.
Randy simply raised his head to look the detective in the eye and just nodded. He knew as soon as he nodded that the detective would assume the same thing that he did – that Unknown number was exactly the person they wanted to speak to right now and right here.
"OK, so we should be able to pick up the phone call with the internal microphones in this room," the detective quickly spoke "So, just answer it and put it on speaker."
Ring ring! Ring ring!
Randy nodded quickly as he placed his cell phone in the centre of the wooden desk and both him and Lita pushed their chairs in so they could be as close as possible to the phone. Randy hovered a finger over the green answer call button before he turned and looked at his wife. The beautiful red head next to him forced a small smile in his direction as she nodded. He nodded back at her as he took her small hand in his. With that the Legend Killer turned his eyes back to the cell phone in front of him and took a deep breath as he pressed the small green button.
"This is Randy Orton," Randy spoke, slowly and calmly.
"I knew we'd talk again Orton," the voice spoke on the other line.
Randy's eyes immediately rose in the direction of the detective and they mutually nodded at each other. It was very clear to tell that the person they were currently speaking to on the other line was not the same one they had talked to before. This was a different voice from a different kidnapper.
"Who is this?" Randy asked, trying his luck.
He knew he wouldn't get an answer but he knew that he might as well try.
"Boy you don't want to even know who you're speaking to right now," the voice replied coldly with a small laugh.
Randy's brow raised as he listened to the voice on the other end. There were very few times when he had been referred to as "boy". It was something he would definitely remember and analyze later, but for now all he could know for sure was that this person was a lot older than he was.
"What do you want?" Randy asked, the ability to keep calm becoming harder and harder as each minute of the phone call passed.
"I want to know whether or not you've made your decision," the voice replied.
"What decision?" Randy asked.
"Well how much does your bitch mean to you boy?" the voice taunted.
Randy could feel his blood boiling as he took a deep breath and once again tried to remain calm. He didn't look up from his gaze fixated on the cell phone in front of him because he didn't want that condescending look from the detective. He didn't want that look that "keep your cool Orton", because honestly that would have made him even more mad that he was getting to be.
"I don't know what you're talking about," Randy replied.
"Yes you do Orton," the voice taunted again, a small laugh escaping their lips once more "Your bitch. Your little red headed bitch."
Randy closed his eyes and he could feel Lita squeeze his hand, but he couldn't even look up at her because he didn't want to see the look in her eyes. He didn't want to see her reaction to what the bastard on the other end of the line was saying about her.
"She's sitting right next to you isn't she Orton?" the voice spoke again, when Randy said nothing.
Once again Randy didn't know what to say. He wanted to keep his calm and he wasn't sure he was going to be able to do that if he opened his mouth.
"I'll take that as a yes," the voice spoke to fill the silence of the conversation "Of course she is. That fucking bitch doesn't go anywhere without you does she?"
Randy clenched the fist of his free hand and took a deep breath.
"Bet she's scared isn't she Orton?" the voice continued "Bet she's scared that if she leaves you she might never see you again. Just like her precious little daughter. Oh and I know you're scared too Orton. I know you're scared that you're gonna lose your bitch just like you lost your daughter. Maybe if you were a better father…"
"What the fuck do you want?" Randy spat into the phone, the annoyance and the anger evidence in his voice.
Nothing more than a laugh escaped the cell phone from the other side of the line.
"There you are," the voice spoke, still half laughing "I thought I'd lost you for a moment there. Having trouble finding your voice little boy?"
"Tell me what the hell you sick fucks want," Randy basically demanded as he spoke again, the anger in his tone not retreating for a moment.
"Am I getting under your skin boy?" the voice taunted "Am I getting you all wound up. Does it make you mad that I'm speaking to you like this? Are you mad Orton?"
"What the fuck do you want from me?" Randy spoke again, his words clear, slow and to the point.
"Like I said I'm waiting for your answer boy," the voice answered straight away "You can't have them both Orton. It's one or the other."
"What are you talking about?" Randy asked, his confusion matching his anger.
"Like I said it's one or the other," the voice answered again "What's it going to be? Your daughter? Or your wife?"
"GIVE ME BACK MY DAUGHTER!" Randy suddenly yelled at the cell phone as he slammed his free fist on the wooden desk table.
"NOW YOU LISTEN TO ME YOU BASTARD!" the voice immediately started yelling back at Randy "YOU NEED TO SHUT THE FUCK UP AND REMEMBER WHO THE HELL IS CALLING THE SHOTS HERE. WE OWN YOU ORTON. WE HAVE YOUR FUCKING DAUGHTER AND WE WILL NOT HESITATE TO MAKE SURE YOU NEVER SEE HER AGAIN IF YOU EVER SPEAK LIKE THAT TO ONE OF US AGAIN. WE OWN YOUR DAUGHTER AND WE OWN YOU."
A silence enveloped the room as Randy took a deep breath and bit hard on his bottom lip as he finally raised his eyes to look at the detective. The Legend Killer blinked twice when he realized the detective wasn't sternly looking down at him like his 5th grade teacher. Instead the detective had retrieved a small notepad and pen from his breast pocket and was quickly scribbling on a blank page. Randy and Lita watched as the detective put the pad on the table and used his hand to push it in Randy and Lita's direction.
They're using voice scramblers. You can hear it when he raises his voice. It makes it almost impossible to recognize voices.
"Now are you ready to fucking listen to me Orton?" the kidnappers voice suddenly spoke from the cell phone, grabbing Randy's attention again.
"Yes," Randy simply replied.
"You can have your daughter back when we're done with her," the voice spoke coldly "But you need to pay up first."
Randy sighed. Finally he knew what this was about. It was clearly about some kind of revenge, that he had definitely concluded from the way that the first kidnapper, and now the second kidnapper, had spoken to him. He knew now, though, that this was also about money. They wanted a ransom in exchange for his daughter. A price had literally been put on his daughter's head.
"How much?" Randy simply asked, he figured the less words that came out of his mouth, the less chance that he would get worked up again and start shouting.
"How much is you daughter's life worth or how worthless do I think you are?" the voice asked.
"How much to get Heidi back to us safely," Randy immediately replied before the kidnapper had a chance to add fuel to the fire and say something equally as infuriating.
"$11 million," the voice simply replied "Should be easy to remember right Orton?"
"Why is that?" Randy asked, not sure what the kidnapper was getting at.
"The 11th," the voice replied "It's your daughter's birthday right?"
Beep beep! Beep beep!
A/N: I really hate myself for leaving my fanfics for so long – it makes it sooo hard to get back into it! Hope you guys liked this chapter, I know not much happens but a lot more hints are dropped as to who one of the other kidnappers could be. Any guesses after reading?
Right so in the next chapter I am going to reveal the identity of 'the other guy' and there have been a lot of really good guesses so if you haven't already guessed or want to make another one feel free before I post the next chapter! I'll give you guys a summary of clues:
1. Heidi has known him since she was a little girl (Chapter 21)2. He has blue eyes (Chapter 19)3. Randy and Lita were nothing but good to him (Chapter 19)
NEW CLUE: He attended one of the weddings in One Secret
PLEASE READ & REVIEW! Mrs Bridget Orton xx