Family Affairs, Chapter 6

“Dad, what’s going on? You can’t keep us in the dark like this. Carry is our brother.” Vince tried to persuade his father to give them even a shred of information.

“Where’s mom at?” Jeff for the first time in his life felt worried. Jack usually told them everything. It wasn’t like him to be secretive and Jeff didn’t like not knowing what to expect.

“Alright, easy, just one question at a time. As for your mother she’s near Ankona, which in pretty far south of here. She can’t get anywhere ’cuz of the hurricane. Second, well I don’t know how to put this, so I’ll give it to ya straight, Carry and Steven have been kidnapped.”

“Was it Robert?” Jeff asked.

“Yes, that’s the way it seems.” Jack knew that his boys were worried, but didn’t quite know how to comfort them. At this point he didn’t know what he could and could not tell them. He was used to comforting other families. He knew what information to withhold, but in this case uncertainty surrounded him.

“How are the police handling this?” Vince asked.

“They’re not. At least not now. They can’t do anything in this weather. They decided to keep a few armed men here in case he decides to come back for your mother any time soon. With her in Ankona, she’s fine. You boys and me are protected by our fine men in blue. Right officer?”

One of the officers gave the boys a faint smile and continued his conversation with the other officers.

“Are you Jack Jones?” An officer asked.

“Yes sir, that’s me.” Jack stood up.

“May I speak with you in private?”

Jack looked at his boys then nodded his head and followed the man into the kitchen.

“I’m Officer Mitchell. Do you know of any reason why he would want to kidnap Carry?”

“He’s a sick perverted fuck that’s why. How the hell should I know?”

“Look sir, I understand that you’re upset, but if you don’t help me, I can’t help you.”

“Sorry, this is just a lot of tension.”

“That’s okay. Now did Carry mention anything about his father?”

“I don’t know; I just got here. I picked up my boys and left. We came back because of the storm, and found the note. His mother would know anything that could be helpful.”

“Where can we reach his mother?”

“You can’t. I don’t know exactly where she is. She just called and said she was staying at an inn near Ankona. The phone died before she could give me the address or the number.”

“Do you know why she wasn’t here with her son?”

Jack’s temper flared at the thought of anyone cracking down on Virginia. They may be divorced and getting on with their lives, but he still loved her something fierce. “Oh no, don’t you even start on her parental skills. She went out for one night on a date. The boys are old enough to take care of themselves. She only left them for a few hours. She had planned on coming back, but got caught by the storm.”

“I’m sorry sir; there was no insult intended.”

Another officer strolled into the kitchen. “Hey Jack. How ya holding up?”

“Okay Paul, and yourself?”

“I’m doing okay. I’ll take it from here Mitchell. ” Paul waited for Officer Mitchell to leave before he resumed the conversation. “Sorry about him, he just came to our department. He lacks the needed social skills, but he loves his work. How’re the boys holding up?”

“As well as can be expected. They’re worried about their brother and their mom.”

“You call your fiancé yet?”

“Called her from the car phone on my way here. Haven’t told her about what’s going on. That’s not my place. And honestly none of her business yet.”

We got a hold of the resident shrink from his prison. Doesn’t remember much of anything specific he told her. Says she’s got a journal of his there. She’s offered to look through it and see if she can get any leads.”

“He just wants his boy.”

“What?”

“I think he just wants his boy. He may be a sick fuck, but he’s still the boy’s father. He probably realized that Carry wouldn’t want to see him on his own, so he decided he would take him.”

“You got good thinking Jack. You should’ve stayed with our department.”

“You still pullin’ strings?”

“With a chief of police’s son on the line? And one of your relatives? There are no strings left to be pulled. They’ve got everyone in the department looking for the kids.”

“You’re probably right. I love that kid to death though, and I’d still do anything for Vee.”

“I still don’t see why you two ever broke it off. You were a great couple.”

“Just too many differences. She was too young. I don’t think she was ready for a relationship. And with me on the force, I don’t think I was ready for a family commitment.”

“Jack, I need you to be straight with me. Okay?”

“Paul, when haven’t I been straight with you?”

“You’re right… Do you think he’ll hurt the boys?”

Jack looked at his hands. “Honestly Paul? I don’t know. I wasn’t kidding when I said he was one twisted fuck. Carry’s one traumatized kid, but he never complains. Never said a word to me. The boys still don’t know much about what happened to Carry. Vee made me promise not to say anything to them, but after tonight, I may have to break that promise. Hell, Vee and I still don’t know much about what happened. Poor boy won’t tell a soul, not even his counselor. I’d gather that he hurt him real bad. And I gather that he’d do it again.”

“Jack, you may not know this, but that other boy of his, Tyler? He was taken from his foster home about a month ago.”

“Yeah Paul, I knew. So let’s put this together and figure out what he’s up to.”

“He kidnaps his first born son in May. He waits a month and then kidnaps his second son.”

“At the first place, he leaves no note, nothing to say that it was him, as it still is speculation that it was him.”

“Then at the second site leaves a note saying it is him and ‘I’ll see you soon’ to his ex-wife.”

Only the sound of the storm filled the room. Both men were lost in thought of what Robert could want. Why he had kidnapped the boys.

Jack suddenly had a brainstorm. “The perfect family.”

“What? What perfect family?”

“He’s trying to recreate his family, his entire family. He’s gathering all his kids and his wife. Maybe in his twisted mind he feels that he can make things right again, that he’s cured, that he’s better now, and he wants to make Virginia see that and take him back.”

“Okay, suppose your theory’s right what about his other ex-wife, Tyler’s mother?”

“She died several years ago of a drug overdose. That takes her out of the picture.”

“Any other kids? Anyone else that he might go after? I want an APB on anyone and everyone that could be threatened.”

“One. Tyler had a twin sister. When her mother died she was left in the custody of her grandmother.”

“What’s this girl’s name?”

“Leah.”

“Okay, we’ll get an APB on Leah Glenn.”

“No, not Glenn.”

“Why not? We can’t risk him taking her too.”

“No. I mean her name’s not Glenn. When Eliza got the divorce she changed her daughter’s last name to her maiden name.”

“Jesus H. Christ. Where’d you learn all of this?”

“I followed the court cases very closely. Virginia asked me to come with her.”

“Yeah but how do you know all this prior shit?”

“I loved her; I still do. I did a background check on the guy and his family.”

“What was the reason for the divorce?”

“Parental differences. The wife was just unhappy, at least that’s what the reports say.”

“What was the maiden name?”

“I don’t know now. Shit I can’t remember. I know it was Irish. I remember that. It was McSomething or other… What was her name? McNally? McKinley? McRoberts. Her name is Leah McRoberts.”

“Any clue where she lives?”

“South of here. It’s a little out of the way kind of town.”

“Thanks Jack. You get back to your boys. We’ll get them back. And Jack?”

“Yeah Paul?”

“Tell them what’s going on. Don’t leave them in the dark any longer.”

“Got it. You don’t need to worry about me. I know you’ll get ‘em back… It’s your ass if you don’t.”

Jack heaved a sigh as Paul left the room. Should he tell the boys? Was it his place? How should he tell them? What all did he have a right to reveal? “Vince, Jeff, I need you boys in here.” Jack called.

Vince entered the room followed by Jeff. “What is it dad?”

“Sit down you two. We need to have a serious talk.” Jack looked at his boys. They were so grown up, and yet still such kids to him. “Now, I’m not sure if it’s my place to be telling you two this, but your mother’s not here to do it, and it needs to be told.”

“Dad, what is it? Is mom okay? What about Carry?” Jeff asked.

“Boys, do you remember Carry’s dad?” Jack asked.

“A little, I never saw him much. He seemed okay though.” Vince responded with uncertainty.

“Do you boys remember when I sent you to your grandmother’s for a while about five years ago?”

“You told us that you and mom were trying to reconcile your differences.” Jeff responded.

“I remember what I told you two. But, I lied to you boys. Your mother and I never tried to reconcile our differences. Well maybe I should start from the beginning. Remember how you boys used to live with me, and only see your mom on the weekends?

The boys nodded their heads in response.

“The man Virginia married was a very dangerous man. He hurt Carry real bad. He hurt Tyler bad too. Carry and Tyler were very afraid of him and refused to testify against him. Without proof and without testimony he had little chance of getting sent away. Virginia decided that in order to protect Carry she should file for a divorce. Shortly after the divorce Robert kidnapped Carry.”

“You told us that he went away to a camp for a while,” Vince said.

“I know what I said. But that’s not what happened. When the police recovered Carry, Virginia pressed charges. Robert got sent away for a long time. He got out on parole two months ago. Last month Tyler turned up missing from his foster home. The police now have reason to believe that he kidnapped Tyler. He’s the guy who kidnapped Carry and Steven tonight.”

“Is Carry okay dad?” Jeff asked.

“We don’t know. As far as anyone knows, the boys are safe. The note I found implied that he would come after your mother. Now don’t panic; we’ve got police near her going in for back up, but right now, no one knows exactly where she is. The police are going to leave. They decided that two armed men should stay here in case he tries to come back here for Virginia. With the storm coming in, there’s not much chance of anything happening any time soon.”

“Dad? If he gets to her before the police do, will he hurt mom?” Vince asked.

“I don’t know son; I really don’t know.”

“How come you and mom never told us anything?” Jeff asked.

“Carry felt, and still does feel ashamed about what happened to him. He still hasn’t told anyone what Robert did to him. Your mother felt that she shouldn’t tell you what she didn’t know. She felt that if you knew what happened to Carry you wouldn’t treat him like a normal boy.”

“So we’re just supposed to sit here while he’s got our little brother?” Vince became indignant. “Why can’t we help? Isn’t there something we can do?”

“There ain’t a damned thing even the police can do right now. They’ve got APB’s out on everyone. All we can do is sit here and wait for your mother to call home and pray that everyone’s okay. You boys are safe here.”

“Don’t worry about us dad. We’ll be okay.” Jeff tried to offer some comfort to his dad.

“Now I’m going to leave the living room open for the officers who are staying the night. I want you two upstairs and in bed.”

Jeff was angered by the way his father was still treating him like a child. “Dad, come on we’re almost…”

“Right now I don’t really care what it is you have to say. I realize you two are almost adults and I’m well aware that you both have graduated. But you two are still my sons. I am still in charge. Now if anything happens, I’ll let you two know.”

Jack watched as Jeff and Vince crossly marched up the stairs and into their room. Jack turned to one of the officers in the living room. “Do we have a tracer on this phone?”

The officer looked at Jack. “Yes sir; sixty seconds and we got our man. I’m officer Marx, and this is officer Richards. We’ll be the officers staying here.” Officer Marx explained.

“The boys will be upstairs in their room, first door on the right. I’ll be in the spare bedroom, second door on the left. The downstairs is yours. There’s food in the fridge.”

“Thank you sir.” Officer Richards replied.

“Anything for my fellow boys in blue.” Jack started up the stairs when the phone rang. Jack ran to the phone and picked it up. “Hello?”

“Is that you Jack? Is it really you?” Robert’s voice came over the phone.

“Robert? We can work this out. Where are the boys?”

“There’s nothing to work out Jack. I want my family back. Now don’t you worry about anyone. Everyone’s fine, safe and sound with me. Where’s Virginia? She wasn’t home when I came to get her.”

“Where are the boys at?”

“They’re here with me. That Steven fellow is quite a hero. Haven’t decided what to do with him yet though.”

“I swear to Christ if you touch either of them, I’ll rip you limb from limb. Do you hear me?”

Jack’s only answer was the click of the receiver and the dial tone that followed.

“Shit how long was that?” Jack asked.

“Not enough time; only forty-seven seconds.” Officer Richards replied.

“He’ll call back. I’m certain of that.”

Author’s note: i don’t really know why i left this chapter in. the story would still probably go smoothly without this chapter, but i’ll post it in its entirety, so please, if you judge this story, don’t do it by this chapter. please.

–mourning