Passion (18 page)

Only time will tell if he was our guy but it was certainly looking
that way what with bodies being found at the site.

One of the deputies was waiting to question Carrie as soon as she
was lucid enough.

I just wanted to know how the fuck they got my phone to send her a
text message.

I knew something fishy had happened, it never once entered my mind
that she had deliberately disobeyed me.

Rodney’s words about a set up played over and over in my head.

Fucking Patti, I knew that bitch had been up to something, now I
just had to fit the pieces of the puzzle together.

I pulled my phone out and called Matt.

“Where is Patti?”

“I
can’t reach her she’s not answering her phone and her family doesn’t know where
she is.

This is fucked up, Rodney says
she planned the whole thing but something went wrong, I don’t know what to
believe but I do know she’s behind this mess somehow.”

“I’m on it.”

I hung up with him and called James.

“I need you to find Patti, you have her info right?”

“I’m on it.”

I wasn’t sure what I was going to do to her or them; all I could
see was Carrie. She’d been prodded and poked a fuck of a lot in the last few
weeks and I wasn’t too sure how much more she could stand, she’d already passed
her breaking point and this shit might just set her back. Fuck if I’d let that
happen.

Her
attending physician was now explaining her condition to her and I since the
Captain had to leave to get to the station.

“She’s fine there’s no
trauma, looks like he didn’t get any further than knocking her out there’re
some scratches on her cheeks and hands most likely from being carried through
the bushes but other than that she’s none the worse for wear. Now you said she
was just released from hospital a few short weeks ago, maybe we should....”

“She’s not staying here.” That much I was sure of, she’d be lucky
if I let her out of my damn sight ever again.

He seemed like he wanted to argue but my hard glare settled the
matter. He just shrugged and left the room.

“I’ll be back soon baby, I’m going to send mom in here in a
minute, don’t leave here until I come back for you.”

 She grabbed my shirt and refused to let go.

“Where........?”

“Ssh, I’ll be back soon, I don’t want you to worry okay,
everything’s going to be alright.” I kissed her, one hard, short kiss and left
before I couldn’t.

 I went outside the door where my mom and sister were waiting.

“Mom stay with her.”

“Son where are you going?”

“I’ll be back.”

“Joshua.”

I grabbed her and kissed the top of her head while hugging her.

“I’ll be fine mom don’t worry, just watch over my girl ‘til I get
back.”

She called after me a couple times but I didn’t look back.

I called James on the way to the Rover.

“You find that bitch yet?”

“I was just about to call you, she’s in Chelsea at a hotel, at
least that’s what the last transaction on her Amex shows.

“Which one?”

He gave me the name of a high-end boutique hotel plus Patti’s room
number.

It would take me a little more than an hour to get there if I
drove the speed limit; I made it in half the time.

I didn’t stop at the front
desk, just walked towards the bank of elevators like I belonged there, it’s
amazing what designer wear and a nice appearance can achieve.

On the fifth floor I walked to her room and being careful to stay
out of view of the peephole I knocked.

I could hear movement from inside, footsteps approaching the door.

“Who is it?”

“Room service.”

“I didn’t order any fucking.......”

She made the universal mistake that most people make, she took the
safety off, and half opened the door.

I pushed hard against it knocking it into her face and throwing
her back into the room.

Her precious face was bleeding, her lip split, her nose gushing
blood.

“You bastard.” Her hands went to her face.

Her words were barely legible.

“Did you think you would get away with this shit?”

I advanced on her as she retreated towards the middle of the room.

“How do you know Travis?”

“I don’t know any Travis what are you talking about?” She ran to
the standing mirror and checked the damage.

“Look what you did to my face.......”

The
vain bitch was more worried about her appearance than the reason I was here.

“Dyson already talked so you
might as well come clean before I break your fucking neck, no one saw me come
in here, it’ll be no skin off my nose to end you right here.”

“Matthew.....” She backed up even farther as she held a shirt to
her bleeding face.

“Matthew? Do you really think my brother would go against me for
you? See that’s where you fucked up, you never understood our family even after
all this time.

You thought you could talk shit about my girl in front of him and
it’d be cool because we were on the outs, what you didn’t know and could never
understand is, she’s in, she’s always been in, my family knew that even if you
didn’t. You were never in, my mother hates your fucking guts, she’s always seen
through you, and so have I. Funny thing, she took one look at Carrie and knew
she was the one, she fits into our family like she was born there.”

“You’re full of shit, you’re just saying that to piss me off, why
would Margaret choose that little nobody over me, I’m beautiful, I’m smart and
I come from a great family....”

“You think any of that really matters, what the fuck do we need
with your money, we’ve got more money than we can spend in ten lifetimes, as
for beauty and smarts we both know Carrie has you beat in both. That’s part of
your problem isn’t it, that she’s so effortlessly beautiful while you have to
work so hard for it, who cares about this shit, what I want to know is how you
know Travis and how you set it up for a rapist to kidnap my girl?”

She looked away from me and refused to answer.

“You know what, don’t answer, I’ll leave it to the federal agents
who should be here any minute, have fun in jail for the next ten to twenty
bitch.”

“What agents, I didn’t do anything it was all stupid Rodney’s fault;
he was supposed to be there ten minutes earlier.”

She stopped talking when she realized she’d said too much.

“Go on.”

I folded my arms and leaned back against the wall.

“I don’t believe you about the agents, why would they get involved
in a stupid prank?”

“You call being kidnapped and almost raped a prank?”

At
least there was a look of surprise on her face at that, but true to form it
didn’t faze her for long.

“Look, I just went to him
because I knew she was going to go to prom with him, but he waited until I’d
told him my plan before saying he wasn’t interested, how was I to know he would
use it for his own sick purposes?”

   “So let me get this straight, you went to Travis to set up
Carrie for what, I’m guessing so I could find them together and blow my top,
kick her to the curb and leave her out in the cold, he said no so you went to
Dyson.”

“Stupid jerk, I had to pay him since he was scared shitless of
you.”

“Then what happened?”

“He called and said she wasn’t there, her truck was there but she
was gone and he freaked.”

Josh

“How’d you get her out of the
house?”

 “That was easy, I used your phone while you and Matt were working
on his car, remember when I came into the garage and started that fight with
him, I used that as a distraction to take your phone.

If that hadn’t  worked I was going to take Vanessa’s and come up
with something, anything, she’s so stupid she would’ve fallen for it.”

She laughed until the pain in her lip cut it short, and almost
lost her life in that moment.

“Let’s go.”

“Go where? I’m not going anywhere with you.”

“You
can walk or be carried out your choice.”

I held my phone up and hit
play so she could hear herself.

“That’s not admissible in court......”

“Yes it is, I’m not law-enforcement this isn’t entrapment, just
your brother-in-law or ex-brother-in-law I should say, having a conversation
with you.”

“My father will never let me go to jail are you stupid?”

“Ha
ha, my father can buy yours with his spare change, who do you think will have
the most clout? I’m going to make sure you spend a very long time in jail for
this and just as you’re about to be paroled I’ll have you terminated, or maybe
sometime before then, who knows, we’ll see how I feel as time goes on. That’s
something for you to think about everyday you’re in there, and don’t worry
about Matthew, I’ll be sure and help him find a more suitable replacement for
you, I’ll see to it that he doesn’t shed one tear over your unworthy pathetic
ass.”

I’m sure the people walking
by on the street down below heard her screams of outrage.

 Fucking nut job, I’d only just begun to terrorize her ass, for
every second that Carrie had known fear before the darkness had overtaken her
while she was in the clutches of a murdering rapist; I was going to see to it that
she paid tenfold.

Josh

Getting her ass out of there
wasn’t difficult, not when I’d already called in a tip that she was wanted for
questioning in connection with the rapes that had been plaguing the area since
Thanksgiving.

By now word had spread that they might have found their man, the
bit about Carrie was not news, not yet at least, but there was no way to keep
it hidden for long, these days everything leaked.

She’d
had enough bullshit to last a lifetime so I’m going to have to take her away
for a while; at least that’s what I was thinking as I sat outside the hotel
waiting for the authorities to come down with Patti.

She’d screamed bloody murder,
used her family’s name as a threat, but to no avail, she seemed to forget that
Carrie was the daughter of a cop, that blue line does not fuck around when it
comes to one of their own.

After I was sure that they had her and she wouldn’t be taking any
surprise trips anytime soon, I headed back to Carrie.

Mom was with her when I got back;
she was asleep, curled into a ball while mom read a magazine.

“You’re back, everything okay?”

“Yeah, I found Patti, the cops have her, they’re gonna transport
her here for questioning, how is she, was she okay?”

“Not really son, I don’t think you should leave her, she spent the
whole time worrying about you until she almost made herself sick. You kids
today, so passionate about everything.”

If you only knew.

“It’s okay mom, thanks for watching over her, I’ll take over now,
gotta see about getting her out of here.”

“She’s already been discharged but you told her not to leave until
you got back so she wouldn’t budge.”

Good girl.

I smiled;
I thought it would be a long time before that happened again.

“Mom, I think I’m going to
take Carrie to the island for the holidays, she needs to get away from all
this, I’m sure whatever case they build will take time right, she won’t be
needed here, but before we go, I need you to do one thing for me.”

“What’s that son?”

I had to think of what to say, this was not an easy thing to ask
but I had to.

“You may not like it.”

“Just tell me son, you’ll never know unless you ask.”

“Josie was part of this, I’m not sure how much, but she and Patti
were scheming, Matt heard them on the phone, I need to.......”

“You want to get back at her for hurting your Carrie; shouldn’t
you just leave it alone? It’s done now, they’ve been thwarted.....”

I looked her in the eye, did she not know me? She’s such a mother,
she looks at me and sees her almost eighteen year old son, the baby she raised
with love.

She doesn’t see the dominant control freak that would do anything
to keep his girl safe, who would go to any lengths to fuck over anyone who hurt
her in any way.

“I warned her, she didn’t listen, she made herself a thorn in my
side for the last time, if you can’t do it I’ll understand, her family are
friends.....”

“It’s not that Joshua, I just don’t want you caught up in all this
negativity, you kids are too young for all this nonsense, I mean, I always knew
Patricia was a spoilt little....you know what, but this, this is criminal, and
now you’re asking me to do Lord knows what so you can have your revenge, where
does it end?”

“It ends when they all pay.”

“What do you mean?”

“I mean that everyone that hurt her will pay, this was no high
school prank mom, kids aren’t like they were back when you were one, they have
access to all kinds of things, you can Google murder and come up with a million
scenarios, and these same kids grow into adults with the same mentality, what,
you think I’m going to turn twenty one and automatically become a different
person? I might grow yes, but my core will still be the same.”

And that’s why I knew I had to stop Josie with her obsession or
she’d never stop. She wasn’t going to just go away like I hoped.

Note to players, watch who you fuck around with cause there’re
some crazy fucks in the world.

“She could’ve been raped and murdered, you’re lucky your son isn’t
running around hacking these fucks to pieces.”

“Oh Joshua, Carrie doesn’t need you to be getting into trouble.”

“Carrie
needs to be safe, they used my damn phone to lure her into this shit, now I don’t
know how much a part of it Josie was but I’ll bet she knew and agreed, granted
they might not have known Travis was a monster, but that’s no excuse, they want
to play with peoples’ lives, then they should bear the consequences.”

She studied me for a long
time as if trying to make up her mind; she’d better make the right choice,
because this way was the easy way. If she refused Josie was going to be in a
world of hurt because option number two was even harsher.

She’s lucky I hadn’t hunted her ass down and beaten the shit out
of her already.

“Think about it, I have to go talk the Captain into letting me
take Carrie home with me for the next little while.”

“I’m not sure he’ll let you.”

“Why not, he knows we’re together.”

“She’s his daughter; he might want to be there for her.”

“He’s going to be knee deep in this mess for a while, she needs to
be taken care of twenty four seven for a while, and I can do that.”

“Okay son, you do what you think is best and I’ll be here to help
you know that, I like your Carrie, poor little thing. By the way what is it you
want me to do, you never said.”

“Just throw a party, not at the house though, one of those halls
you use for special events, I’ll get you the guest list.”

“That’s all, a party?”

“Yeah, but it’ll have to be soon, before Xmas.”

“Joshua, that’s less than two weeks notice.....”

“I know mom, can you do it?”

“Sure I can but I don’t know if everyone will be able to attend,
these things take time.”

“No one’s ever declined a Margaret Steele invite, they wouldn’t
dare, it’s like social suicide or something.”

“Oh hush you....though you are right, my parties are fabulous,
okay, I’ll do it.”

“Thanks mom.”

I
went over and gave her a hug before sitting down next to Carrie.

I studied her for a minute
while brushing her hair with my fingers, so fucking gorgeous and perfect and
mine.

Something inside me unfurled and I felt my heart smile, just
before my lips did.

She was okay, I think for the first time the enormity of the
situation settled in and I was just grateful that she was okay, it could’ve
been so much worse.

“I’m going to protect you little lamb, always.”

I kissed her brow as my mom left the room, I hoped the Captain
agreed to me taking her home otherwise I’d be camping out in his house for the
next week or so and my bed was so much more comfortable than hers, either way I’m
not leaving her, not ever again.