Chapter 26 Slip Away （feat. Ruelle） by. UNSECRET
Will
“Jackie, are you in here?” I yelled into what seemed like an empty apartment.
Odd, maybe she was still asleep.
Her nightmares were becoming more consistent and I could tell she was utterly exhausted.
Her bedroom, bathroom, kitchen and living room were all empty. Maybe she had run out to grab something for dinner and was running late.
Yes, that must have been it. Just as I had that thought, the sound of a car driving into the parking lot took my attention. I looked out her window expecting to see her black Jeep drive in, except her Jeep was already parked in her designated spot and there was no sign of her.
Where could she be?
“Jackie! Where are you?”
I could feel myself panicking. The case had taken so many odd turns up until this point and it seemed as though she had garnered Griffin’s whole focus. He couldn’t have done anything, he was locked away on the other side of the country.
Right?
I continued searching, checking closets, cabinets, and even under her bed.
“Jedi?”
There her cat was, hiding under her bed with the widest eyes I had ever seen. “Jedi, are you okay?”
Okay, wow, I was talking to a cat.
I was really falling off the deep end.
I slowly coaxed the creature out from under the bed. He seemed skittish.
Were cats skittish? What happened that had caused this type of behavior?
I didn’t have time to contemplate the cat's mood. I needed to find Jackie. She has to be around here somewhere. That’s when I noticed her keys on the keyring by the front door.
Her shoes were kicked off by the couch. Her purse was on her kitchen counter.
Everything was positioned as if she should just be on her couch lounging or in her bed napping.
“Jackie!” I yelled again, hoping that would make her appear.
There was still no response.
What was happening?
I couldn’t breathe. Jackie was gone. She was missing.
She wouldn’t go anywhere without her purse or shoes.
My Jackie was missing. I needed to find her.
How could I find her? The police, of course.
The police would help, had to help. With that thought, I grabbed her phone off of the wall and dialed 911.
“911, what’s your emergency?” the operator asked with a shockingly calm voice.
“Jackie…” My voice wavered, this couldn’t be real.
“My Jackie is missing, she isn’t… I can’t…
” My voice broke in a sob as I looked around the empty apartment hoping she would appear, she had to.
I couldn’t voice it out loud that she was missing, it would make it real.
Was this it? What Griffin was talking about?
“Sir, take a deep breath in…. Very good… and out… very good. Try and explain again.”
“My girlfriend, Ophelia James, is missing. All of her stuff is here, her purse, keys, wallet, they are all here and she isn’t. She’s… she’s just gone.”
“Sir, what’s the address and I will send law enforcement personnel to investigate.”
I rambled off Jackie's address, still in shock at her disappearance.
I hung up the phone. The police would be here in five minutes.
My hand clasped over my mouth, as I tried to physically hold in the sob that would break free any second.
I needed to find her. Five minutes and people would be here to help. The police would help.
I needed a plan but I could barely think, I could barely breathe. Where was she? What was happening to her? Was she hurt? Scared? Alone?
I couldn’t entertain those questions, which would lead to places that would be unproductive. All I needed to do was find her.
As I began to pace in Jackie’s kitchen and waited for the police, I saw the picture of her and Fai on her fridge.
God, she was beautiful. Her smile lit up every room she was in and the picture captured it perfectly.
Her relationship with Fai was the most important relationship in her life, yet I watched it crumble to dust last night.
I knew he was her rock. He would do anything for her. That couldn’t have changed.
Could it?
“Oh my god, Fai. I need to call Fai.”
I ran back to the phone and dialed his number. The three rings it took for someone to answer were too long.
“Pick up, god, please pick up.” I mumbled into the receiver.
“Hi, this is Sarah. How can I help you?”
Sarah could help, she could get Fai. Fai could find Jackie. That was all that mattered. Finding Jackie. “Sarah, it’s Will. I need Fai.” My voice was still shaking. I needed to breathe but I couldn’t while she was still missing.
“William? Are you okay?” Sarah asked, the concern clearly present in her voice. “What’s going on?’
“I need Fai!” I screamed into the phone, my body pulsating with fear. I know I should have been nicer, but Jackie was missing and that was all that mattered.
“Okay, okay, let me grab him…. Faizal, the phone is for you… It’s William… I don’t know, but something’s wrong… You need to talk to him… He asked for you…I don’t care if you don’t want to… God, just talk to him.”
“What do you want, Will?” Fai asked through the phone, his tone biting.
I forced the dreadful words out. “She’s missing.”
“What? Who’s missing?” The anger in his voice slipped away, concern replacing it.
“Jackie. She’s missing, Fai. I…”
This can’t be real.
“She’s gone, Fai. I need your help.”
“Sir, you need to calm down,” the police officer said to me, as if hearing it again would make it finally happen.
“Calm down? You want me to calm down? My girlfriend is missing! You’re the police, you’re supposed to help find her!
Instead you’re waiting seventy-two fucking hours to even start looking!
She could be dead by then! She could be dead now and you’re going to do nothing?
” I screamed at the man in front of me. Jackie was missing and he was doing nothing to help. He was supposed to help.
“Mr. Bly, you need…”
“Dr. Bly,” I interrupted.
Was it petty and immature to correct him? Yes.
Did I care right now? No.
This man was refusing to start searching for Jackie.
The police officer rolled his eyes. “Dr. Bly… There are no signs of a struggle. There is no note. There have been no ransom calls. At this time, we will assume that Ophelia left of her own accord and will either come back or reach out in the next seventy-two hours. If you don’t hear from her by then, please come down to the station and we will start a formal search. Until then, sit tight. She’ll show up.”
With that, the Officer Assface (not his real name, but petty and immature were better than the existential dread I was experiencing) walked out of the apartment.
“Sit tight? Goddamn it,” I muttered as I sank into Jackie’s couch.
This can’t be real.
The police weren’t going to look and I had no idea where to find her. Fai had to know, he knew her better than anyone. Right? After I told him Jackie was missing, he immediately asked where I was and stated he would be right there.
It was as if my thoughts had conjured him up.
Fai walked through the door with Sarah and Oliver right behind him.
He must have called Oliver before coming here.
The usual mild-mannered Fai was looking like a hurricane at the moment, ready to tear down any obstacles in his way of finding Jackie.
Good, that is exactly what I need. “Are the police leaving?” He asked as his eyes landed on me.
I rolled my eyes at the mention of Officer Assface. “Yeah, they stated they couldn’t do anything for the next seventy-two hours since there are no obvious signs that she left against her will.”
“She wouldn’t just up and leave,” Fai retorted as he looked around the living room, his eyes lingering on the same items mine did when I first arrived. Her keys, her purse, her shoes.
“I know.”
“What do you know?” Fai asked as he finally turned to me.
“Nothing. She’s just gone,” I explained as I sunk down onto the couch and buried my face in my hands.
This can’t be real.
“When did you get here and see she wasn’t here?”
“A little before seven, I think. The clock is frozen so I am not sure the exact time.” As I was talking, Fai marched into the kitchen to check the oven clock. “She was just gone, Fai,” I slowly looked up at him, the tears finally falling. “Jackie’s gone.”
“We’re going to find her,” Fai stated, clearly and confidently. Yet, I wasn’t sure I could believe him.
“How?”
“We’ll investigate. We’ll search. We will do whatever we need to find her. Jackie would do it for us.”
He was right. She would never stop searching for us.
God, I need her to come back to me.
“Will, has anything happened with the case lately?” Oliver interjected. He looked a lot calmer than I did, but I could see the anxiety swirling in his eyes.
“Nothing new. We only got back from Utah yesterday. She was getting calls from Griffin and her nightmares have continued, but nothing new,” I stated as I pondered if the case was the reason she was gone. “Do you think this is it? The Cult took her?”
Oliver answered as he sat next to me. “I just find it odd that Griffin and Joey both alluded to her going missing as well and then she does. I don’t think it’s a coincidence. The timing is just… odd.”
“I agree with Oliver. She has been heavily investigating this Cult of Creatio with you. Maybe the people involved with the Cult were growing anxious about what she was finding or wanted to use her to make an example,” Sarah said as she sat on the other side of me.
She was a calming presence in the chaos.
“It may just be Griffin. He’s smart, and slimy.
I wouldn’t put it past him to find a way to get his hands on her. ”
Besides Fai’s tinkering in the kitchen, there was a silence as we all contemplated if it was the Cult’s doing.
We had been getting closer and closer to what Jackie would call the truth of the cult.
The timing was also odd after Griffin’s threats and the nightmares.
I needed to call her family and tell them what was going on. They deserved to know.
“We need to call Theo and Kai.”
“I already did,” Sarah stated. “Theodora is driving here now, I told her to meet us at the office when she got here.” She looked down at her wrist. “It is about a nine hour drive, so she should be here in the early morning. She called Malachi. I assume he’s on his way as well.”
“Thank you.” I looked into my friend's eyes. How could this be real? How could we be searching for Jackie? How could she be missing? “I… I can’t lose her, Sarah. I just got her, I can’t lose her.”
“I know,” Sarah said calmly as she grabbed my hand. I immediately fell into her arms, hoping she could take away the pain. Tears began falling down my cheeks harder and my body shaked with silent sobs.
The love of my life was missing.
Jackie was missing.
Fai reentered the room from the kitchen.
As he looked at me, I could tell he was shocked to see the emotion so present in me.
“Let’s head to the office. If there is evidence here the police could use I don’t want us disturbing it.
Someone grab her cat, we need to make sure he is taken care of or she will kill us herself when she comes back.
” He choked out a laugh as he looked at Jedi.
“Let's head to the office. We can make a plan there.”
We all began gathering our things, as well as Jedi and his supplies, as Fai turned to me and grabbed my shoulder.
“We are going to find her. I promise. I can’t lose her either.
I need to apologize. I need to explain. I need to make it better.
” I nodded, unable to use my voice. “God, Will, you are in no condition to drive.” He slowly broke eye contact with me to look just over my shoulder.
“Oliver? You good to drive his car to the office?” Oliver nodded and I threw my keys to him.
We all left her apartment silently, hoping she would just show up in her usual chaotic manner.
I turned around one more time and looked at Jackie’s home. I was going to find her, I had to. I made her a promise as we finally drove away towards their office. I would find her or die trying.