"So, she really called you?" Nova asks in shock. David, August, and Leroy had come back to the station with their new evidence.
"She did, she's locked up by this guy in some cabin in the woods. She thinks it might be a national park somewhere."
"Well that might make things a bit easier," Jack says, happy that they were having some progress.
"The problem is, she doesn't know if she's in Massachusetts or not…" August adds.
"Plus there are many national parks in this state alone," Leroy adds.
"Did you get a tracking signal?" Nova asks. "That might narrow the field a bit."
"I tried to, but I couldn't seem to get it. I hooked it up to the computer to strengthen the signal, but it's still hard to trace."
"Either she's really far in the woods or the guy was using a burner phone," August deduces.
"What's a burner phone?" Leroy asks.
"It's a cheap phone you can get at any drug store, the thing is that it makes our job a lot harder. It's not impossible to find them, but it's hard."
"I just hope Henry doesn't need his phone back right away," August mutters to himself.
"We'll send it to the phone company and they can help us out," Jack adds, taking the phone from David to hand it to another officer.
"In the meantime, we better get started on the searches…"
"That's great, we should just traipse around every forest and look into every cabin in the woods."
"We have to start somewhere Leroy," David says as he unrolls a map of the state. "Nova, can you google how many national parks there are?"
"I'm on it," Nova was at the computer googling national parks. "There almost 40 National Parks in Massachusetts alone."
"Great…" Leroy groans. "You know how much it'll cost to do search parties? Gold will never allow it."
August bites his lip, as he often does when he's thinking very hard. He stares at the map as David is marking all the national parks according to Nova's instructions.
"Maybe we can get the communities to help out?" August says thoughtfully.
"Right and how is that gonna work?" Leroy says.
"We could just talk to them," August says.
"And who's going to do that? David and the other guys have other stuff to deal with here."
"We could go," August says. "You and me, since you're unemployed and everything. That way we don't cost the station a lot of money and we're not under Commissioner Gold's influence."
"You really want Leroy there?" Nova smirks. "Everyone will shut their doors to you in an instant."
Leroy opens his mouth to protest but then shuts it. He knows that Nova is right.
"The chick has a point," the grumpy man says. "I'm not exactly Mr. Sunshine." He then takes out his flask to chug some whiskey.
"No, you are not," Nova giggles.
"Well, then Neal and I could go…" August ponders.
David swallows hard at the mention of his name.
"Are you sure he would do that?" David asks quietly.
August looks at David for a long moment.
"Look, I know what he did to Emma and Henry was very wrong, but it's been three years now and Emma needs us more than ever. Remember when the call was cut off? She was about to say something important I'm sure of it… she could be in more trouble than before. I know things are really hard for you guys because you love her so much, but Neal is here to help no matter what. Now is the time to act. Neal isn't doing anything right now, so it will work out…"
David clenches his jaw, looking into the blue eyes of August, full of determination. He wanted to believe that Neal was trying to help, but her was still hesitant.
"Alright…" he says.
…
"Good morning Mark," Andrew, the hardware store manager says, as Arthur enters the store for his first day. "A bit late, aren't you?" Actually, he was over an hour late.
"I'm sorry," Arthur says, coming up to the counter. "First-day tardiness."
Arthur released Emma just the other night and made sure that she was well fed. She didn't talk to him at all and she pretty much avoided him altogether now. Arthur knew he had established domination over her and she wouldn't try any more funny business, especially if she wanted to keep what was left of her dignity. He made sure he locked the door before he left, leaving Emma alone in the house. He walked for almost a full two hours to get to the hardware store in town. He did regret torching the car, but if Emma had given away some secrets to her happy little friends, it was better to be safe.
"Didn't you say you had a car?" Andrew asks.
"The damn car has broken down and I don't think I can fix it," Arthur says through his teeth. "And being in the woods is not exactly easy."
"Well," Andrew says. "If you need a vehicle, my brother has an old pick up he's trying to get rid of."
Arthur's eyes lit up with hope and excitement. "Really?"
"Yeah, ever since he switched jobs, he's been trying to get rid of it. After work, I can take you to see it."
"That would be great, thank you," Arthur says happily.
"Alright, now welcome aboard, I'm just going to go over the usual safety stuff and set you up in the back."
Arthur nods and follows the manager to the back of the store.
…
The rest of the day goes by pretty quickly, Arthur was sorting shipments of metal piping all day and by the end, he was exhausted. He came around to the side and found Andrew and few other men sitting, smoking and drinking a few beers. One of the men offers him a beer.
"Thanks a lot," Arthur murmurs.
"After the shift Mark, I'll take you to see the truck," Andrew tells him.
Mr. King nods and sips a beer.
"Nothing like a cold one and a hot smoke after a hard day's work," one of the men in blue overalls says.
The men nod in agreement.
"Did you hear what the sheriff found last night," a tall man with dark tanned skin asks.
"No what?" Andrew asks.
"He found a car light up like a bonfire,"
Arthur swallows some of his beer and says nothing.
"Wow really?" another man says, puffing his cigarette.
"Yeah, Ruth and Michael were driving back from the adjacent county and found it burning by the side of the road."
"Do they know who's car it was?" another man asks.
"No, it was so badly done, he couldn't even lift prints off of it.
Internally, the owner of that car lets out a sigh of relief.
"Joe thinks it might be a drug-related thing or some teenagers who screwed around with matches. Nothing too serious."
"Well that's good to know," Andrew says.
"For sure…: Arthur says, trying to be as casual as possible.
"So Mark," the hardware manager says, extinguishing his cigarette on the ground. "Want to go look at that truck?"
"Sure."
…
"WHAT?!" her voice screeches over the phone. Neal has to pull his ear away to avoid going deaf.
He just broke the news to Tamara about August's plans. He knew he had to give his answer by tomorrow, time was wasting. And yet he thought it would be better to consult his fiancée before making the decision. Of course, he wanted to help August, but Tamara was becoming impatient and downright bitter about him being away for so long.
"Tammy please…"
"DON'T YOU TAMMY ME!" the woman shouts angrily into the phone. "Look I know that you have your history. You have a son and an ex-fiancée and you think by trying to find her you're redeeming yourself in some weird way but…"
"Baby please don't…"
"But you have me now. You chose to leave that life behind and propose to me. And now here I am, waiting for my fiancé to come home while he looks for his ex-girlfriend."
"Tammy please try to understand…"
"Understand what? How you're going across the state to every forest to look for her? How you won't know how long you'll be gone? How every day I miss you more and more to the point where I feel like I don't even have a man anymore…"
Neal sighs, wiping tears from his eyes.
"August needs my help," he says quietly.
"Don't bullshit me!" Tamara barks. Then the end of the phone goes very quiet. "What do you think will happen once you rescue her?"
Neal swallows, not liking where this is going. "Tammy don't…"
"What do you expect to happen? You expect that she'll fall back in love with you again is that it? Is that why you're spending so much time away from, trying to worm your way back into her good graces."
"It's not like that…"
"Just answer me one question," Tamara says, swallowing. "Do you still love her? Because if you do, that's the end of us."
"Tammy…"
"Do you STILL love her?" his fiancée insists.
Neal is quiet, very quiet as he contemplates his feelings overall. He still cared for Emma, that was for sure, she was the mother of his child, but she had a new man in her life and basically a new life altogether with new friends who were basically family. What did he hope to accomplish by traveling with August? A chance to see her again? A chance to apologize… to kiss her one last time.
The silence drags on… too long for an impatient woman.
"Goodbye Neal," she says before hanging up.
"Tammy wait…" Neal says, but all he hears is the dial tone. He lays back on his bed and lets the tears begin to fall. Now he had done it… screwed everything up once again. Maybe he really was like his father, after all, a man who ruined lives wherever he went, breaking hearts and running away when things got too scary for him to handle. He rolls over onto his side and stares at the digital clock in his room.
Maybe she wasn't the one… he thinks to himself. Would a normal fiancée be supportive like that? Would she wait for as long as possible, wouldn't she be concerned about Emma's well-being despite the history?
The longer he lays there, the more Neal realizes how selfish Tamara could be. It was always about her and her alone. She hardly ever took his feelings into consideration, in fact, when they got engaged, it was more like that she proposed to him. She was a domineering woman, controlling and very jealous.
Maybe I am better off alone…
He didn't really know why he came back to Boston? Was it for Henry? Was it for Emma? Or was it for him? Did he have some hope that Emma would come back to him if he redeemed himself by finding her? His head is a tornado of emotions. Everything was so complicated and confusing, leaving Neal a shivering mess of a man.
Neal picks up his phone again and dials August.
"Hey Neal," the private investigator says.
"Hey August, I'm in."
Here's another chapter. For the readers who have asked, Emma is almost two months pregnant. I will be doing a time skip, hopefully in the next chapter. Thank you for the support, you guys are awesome.