Chapter 32
Max
When we pulled into the library parking lot, EMS was already on the scene. Mitch and Brian and Captain Woods were all checking out Melissa and Roark. My heart sunk as I scanned the open doors to the ambulances, where is she?! Rick throws the car in park and jumps out of the car sprinting for Melissa. Damn for an older man he could move.
I follow behind him, gritting my teeth. The flashing lights of the emergency signs were still flashing, but the sound was gone. Roark looks at me, he’s covered in blood, anger twisting his face into a snarl that I haven’t seen on him since he hacked up Roy the other night.
“Before you give him any shit Max, it is my fault that he is bloody and a mess,” Melissa stated. I turned to look at her, she wasn’t bloody or bruised up. Not a single strand of hair came out of her perfectly put together bun.
“What happened?” I spat through gritted teeth. I looked at Roark, but Melissa forced me to look back at her.
“We don’t know. Megan checked the emergency doors twenty minutes before Roark got there, I made him double check them. Everything was fine, we were getting ready to leave then the alarms went off. I ran to the office and called 911 while Roark yelled for Megan to get her ass in the office, but she froze in place,” she took a deep breath trying not to sob. “Rick, someone hit her from behind. She tried to run to us when Roark got attacked, but I opened the door grabbing Roark and pulling him into the room. I couldn’t leave the door open with one attacker right at the door. I’m so sorry Max.” Melissa couldn’t hold back her sobs any longer. I looked at Roark who was white knuckling his fists in his lap.
“How the fuck did you end up bloody and fucked up then?” I questioned him, “And how the fuck did someone get in?!”
“They came in the front door when the library was open and hid. Really fucking well, I might add,” Andy came strolling out of the library with Tony.
“Is Ally—” I began but Tony just held his hand up.
“She’s home. Pissed and angry that Megan waited for Roark instead of leaving with her, but Megan never liked to leave Melissa alone at night,” he said as he walked up to us. Melissa became hysterical with tears streaming down her cheeks. Rick tried to hug her, but she pushed him away.
“She… can’t…die! I promised Matt she would be safe if.. anything happened to him!” Melissa’s words landed like rocks in my chest. She’s known Megan for that long?
“Who the hell is Matt?” Roark gritted out. I couldn’t answer because I only knew what little Megan had told me.
“He was her fiancé long before Ryan bullied his way into her life. Matt said he had a feeling something bad was going to happen to him. He was getting threatening emails and messages, but he never told Megan about them. Rick has them all. He’s been secretly working on that boys murder since it happened. They were supposed to get married later that year. Megan was a ghost and then suddenly Ryan is introduced into the picture and the girl I knew was gone. Max I haven’t seen her smile since she met you,” Melissa said, barely able to regain her composure.
I watched my friends all look at me like this may be news to me that I didn’t already know. I knew she had a soul mate before she met me. I knew she had a love for someone before Ryan. I just didn’t know that Melissa knew him.
“Max, I need to know that you are mentally okay to help out here,” Rick drags my thoughts back to them. I nod.
“I know this may sound wrong, but do you have a picture of them together?” I asked Melissa. She nodded, reaching for her purse. She fished through it, finally grabbing her wallet out. She pulled out a folded picture of a young Megan in the arms of a well-built, brown haired, green eyed male. I don’t know why I needed to see this, I don’t know what good it was going to do, except show me the male who I would’ve lost her too. “Was he good to her?”
“Yes Max, he treated her like a queen. If he was still alive, I’m sorry to say this, but you never would’ve met her. He loved her with a love so unconditionally that when he died, she was placed on suicide watch. We worried we would lose her,” Melissa said. I handed her back the photo and looked at the ground. If he was still around I wouldn’t know what love truly is.
“Matt is gone, it does none of us any fucking good to talk about him or the past. Not unless you think the men who killed Matty are the ones who kidnapped Megan,” Ally said as she stormed up to us.
“Ally he has a right to know these things,” Melissa tried to reason with Ally, but it wasn’t going to work. Tony watched as Ally walked up to Roark and slapped him hard across the face.
He just sat there and took all three hits to the face. Tony finally grabbed her and pulled her away. “You were supposed to keep her fucking safe!” She spit at him before Tony got her under control.
“I could arrest you for assaulting an officer, calm the fuck down,” Tony said to her, thinking that would calm the raging wolf that was staring him down like he was lunch.
“Fuck. You.” She growled at him. I was half expecting her to slap him across the face. She went to swing; closed fist and he caught her.
“Get mad all you want, but the more you rage, the less time we have to focus on getting her back,” He was blunt with her, but she stopped trying to fight him. Instead, she fell into his arms, crying.
“I know I was supposed to protect her. I ran out of the office trying to fight my way through the guy outside the office door to get to her. Max there were two initially that I saw when the lights started to flash, but I didn’t see them when I made the rounds through the library to check the doors. They were all closed and locked. I swear I wouldn’t let anything happen to her or Melissa. The guy who was fighting me was large, muscular, probably six feet tall, roughly two thirty. He is a fighter though, or at least someone who’s been well trained. Every punch I landed he countered with one harder and faster,” Roark listed off what he could remember from the attacker. “The one who knocked Megan out had someone smaller come through the front door to help carry her out. They had this planned Max; I just think they were planning on you being here and not me.”
“Think they could be one of us? Or some other task force?” Rick asked, while holding his wife close to him.
“If not one of us, maybe someone who was formerly law enforcement or military. The way he fought me felt like I was fighting one of you guys. He knew how to counter my moves and I am one of the best on the force there is,” Roark replied. He wasn’t boasting though. He was the best second to me. He was the only one who gave me an actual workout when we spared.
“According to the footage I watched, two males entered the library while Megan was in the children’s room talking to a little girl and Melissa was in the office. Ally you were in the children’s room as well, so you wouldn’t have seen them. They entered this door back here and stayed there until after close. Where does this door lead?” Andy showed us all the footage, pointing to a door in the far back on the library.
“That’s the basement. Megan is the only person not terrified to go down there,” Ally said, her body shaking at the sight of the door opening. “Is that fucking door still open?!”
“As far as I can see, yes,” Andy said, and Ally shrieked.
“Close the fucking door! It’s not safe for it to be open!” She pushed Tony into the library.
“Ally stop it with that. Aside from the stairs, there is nothing—” Melissa began before she was cut off by Ally fussing.
“You won’t go down there either after you heard voices and books went flying! Don’t give me the it’s not haunted speech! Whatever the fuck is down there likes Megan and doesn’t bother her, but fuck that. Close that damn door and seal it for all I care,” Ally screeched before heading as far away from the doors as possible.
“Uh, guys, you might want to get in here,” Tony said into the camera, his normal olive tones looked paler than usual. Mitch and Brian nodded at us.
“Go, we’ve got Melissa and Ally,” we all nodded and headed into the library to the back of the building.
“Tony, you’re going to give Ally a heart attack if you don’t close that door,” Andy teases, but as we get closer the teasing fades away as we see blood and torn clothes scattered over pictures of Megan. Pictures of her with Matt. Matt’s eyes cut out of the pictures, red lines over his throat and face. A note lay over the clothes and photo.
She belongs to us now. Trade us Ryan Paxley for Megan Monroe, tomorrow night at the port of Wilmington. No funny business or we kill her.
A chill ran down my spine at the sight of the blood the letter was written in. Please don’t be Megan’s blood, please be pigs blood or some shit! I quickly take pictures of the scene before pulling gloves from my pocket and grabbing the letter.
“Bag everything, we are going fucking hunting!” I snarl as I grab a picture from the floor of Megan and Matt standing underneath a flower arch of roses and notice that it’s from an engagement shoot. I run from the back of the library out to Melissa.
“You said Megan and Matt were due to be married shortly after he was murdered,” Melissa nodded at me, clearly confused by my question. Ally stormed over to me, rage seething from her. I could tell she was about to bite my head off for bringing him up again. “When did they have their engagement photos taken and who took them?”
“Two weeks before he was killed. Megan never got them from the photographer. She couldn’t bear to see the pictures of what might’ve been but never was. A local photographer by the name of Alice Porter took the photos and should still have them if she didn’t delete them. Why?” Ally gave me my answers, now it’s my turn.
“If Megan never got her engagement photos did she pay for them?” I needed one more answer.
“Matty paid for everything up front. The last thing that was supposed to be paid for was the rest of the venue which was to be paid the week before the wedding. He had it all taken care of. Now why are you asking?!” She demanded and I handed her the photo of the couple under a rose archway.
“Whoever took her, left these as a calling card, a few different pictures from that shoot and a letter. I think I know what happened to Matt. And I think you’re right. These people might be connected to his murder, but I think it’s deeper then that. Melissa, how long have the Paxley’s used the library for campaigning?” I ask her, it had to be longer than just the duration of Ryan and Megan’s relationship.
“At least fifteen years. Where are you going with this?” She asked me, but Rick put the clues together.
“Was Ryan ever with his dad? Did he ever see Megan before Matt died?” Rick asked, Ally seemed to connect the dots just like I did.
“Oh my god! Yes! Ryan was hardcore flirting with Megan, they were formally introduced after Matty’s death though. Ryan got pissed at Matt for quote cock blocking him at an event for his dad. That’s when Matty said that he was her fiancé, and that Ryan should learn his place. He took Megan with him that night and I had to finish up the party without her. Matty was adamant that she was not to work anymore Paxley parties if Ryan was going to be there,” Ally let the words flow out of her.
“Ryan murdered Matt to get Megan!” Melissa finally connected the dots and the dread that seeped over her was apparent.
“I need to know how he got the photos—” Andy set the laptop down on the hood of the cruiser, with a search site up.
“Alice is Ryan’s cousin. Something tells me she either gave him the photos when he was dating her, or he stole them. Megan might not have known.” Andy said as he let out a long sigh.
“If we are right, this will be a huge blow to the Paxley campaign. We still have the event here this weekend, and it all starts off tomorrow.” Melissa uttered out like this was the worst news she could ever receive.
“That won’t be happening. I will be making a press release in the morning about the attack here, I won’t say anything about Megan being missing unless we can’t find her within the next thirty-six hours. No one says shit, is that understood?” Rick demanded.
We all nodded our heads. Tonight, we would hunt down the Paxley’s until we found Megan. I will not rest until she is back in my fucking arms. Someone’s going to die, and it sure as fuck won’t be any of us.