Chapter 17

Derrick finishes pumping gas into his car while Erika asks for help with directions to one of the roads on the map. "Ah yes, that looks a lot like the Winston Estate. It's still a little way up Side Road 21 but there is a dirt path that leads to this road here, see?" The older woman points and follows with her finger on the map. "It's dark so it'll be hard to see but then you make this turn here, and then again there. That will get you to the bridge to the island which leads to their front gate. I actually saw their car earlier today, a nice man with a pretty young lady stopped to grab gas. I think he is their gardener or chef. I can't remember." Derrick walks up to the counter, just catching the end of the conversation. "Sorry, I don't mean to be rude, but do you remember the type of car they were driving?" Derrick asks politely, the old woman smiles and says, "Of course, I do, the one the family has driven for years. A silver BMW." Derrick looked at Erika who was already looking at him. He pays the woman in cash and leaves a big tip, thanking her then runs out to the car.

Erika collected her map and thanked the woman for all of her help, then chased Derrick out the door. When she gets to the car, Derrick is as white as a ghost. "What?" She asked confused, but he had no words. He passes his phone to Erika who reads the message from Jessica. She gasps. "Can you call?" Derrick asks as he starts the car, Erika nods and gets in. Erika unplugs the phone charger and dials 911. A woman on the other end answers promptly, "911 what's your emergency?" Erika takes a breath before letting it all out. "Hello? I need to report a kidnapping. A Jessica Wright was taken at around 1:30 pm to a location called, the Winston Estate. It's just off of Side Road 21." The woman on the other end types in the information, and Erika can hear the keystrokes on the phone. "I have pulled up the information, we will get a cruiser on site as fast as we can, what is your relation to the missing person."

Erika takes a deep breath, looks at Derrick, and then answers the operator. "I am the victim's brother's girlfriend, he's driving a vehicle at the moment." For a moment, Derrick is happy hearing Erika refer to herself as his girlfriend again, he takes his hand off the wheel for a moment to squeeze her hand and shoots her a loving smile. Then he returns to the road, picking up speed. "And how do you know the victim has been taken?" The operator asks. "Because she sent a distress message asking us to call the police. I don’t think she has much battery life left, she probably couldn't complete the call." The operator is silent for a moment as she types in all of the information. "I'll be sending additional cruisers for backup. Please, whatever you do, do not approach the property. This is a police matter now, we will do everything we can." Erika thanked the woman and then hung up the phone.

"She told us not to approach the property," Erika told Derrick as he turned down the dirt road. He looked at her surprised. "Like Hell!" he says, as stones collect in the wheel wells and hit the car. "They'll take too long to get there anyways, what if she needs help now? Like right now?" Derrick explains sounding menaced. Erika put her hand on his and gave him a look that he knew meant, I got your back. "My man." She said proudly. They sped down the dirt road, hoping to get to Jessica before anything happened to her. Derrick was losing his mind, it's good that he had Erika with him, otherwise, he might not have been able to come this far at all.

They pull up the driveway to the ginormous gate and get out of the car. "How are you at climbing?" Derrick asks Erika as they size up the gate. They get back into the car and he reverses along the wall just out of sight from the entrance. Derrick climbs on top of the car and offers a hand to Erika, "Are you ready for this?" He asks her. "No." She answers honestly. He puts his hands between his knees making a step for her to step onto. She pushes off of him as he lifts her to the concrete platform at the top of the gate wall. She pulls herself over and then reaches for his hand. He jumps for her and then grabs onto the platform, pulling himself the rest of the way. She dangles from the edge and then lands in a bush on the other side of the gate. Derrick does the same. The house can be seen from the gate as a giant fortress on top of a hill. They move quickly towards the house, trying not to be seen.

Jessica treads upstairs quietly, looking for a room to hide in. Matthew is screaming and checking rooms downstairs. It sounds like he's flipped the dining room table, and throwing chairs. He's opening and slamming doors shut. Suddenly, he's silent. Jessica freezes, he must have found the room with the bodies that she left open because his voice changed drastically. "Jessica, darling. Won't you please come out now? We can talk about this. Jessica?" The sound travels down the hallway. Jessica sneaks into a room with a lock on the door and shuts it quietly. She locks the door and turns to find a baby grand piano, a lounger with a glass table, and another lounger across from it. There is a door to a connecting room, Jessica goes to check where it leads, or if it can lock.

She opens the door and reveals a locked cabinet with hunting knives on display, there is a large bow, a big axe, and a rifle. What luck! She thinks to herself now rummaging through the keys. She tries them slowly and carefully, paying close attention to the sounds coming from Matthew. Struggling to hear him anymore, she quickens her pace, finally, the key turns over and clicks, releasing the lock to the cabinet. Jessica grabs the rifle and checks to see if it's loaded. It's not. There aren’t any shells in the cabinet. She scans the room and spots a large safe in the back corner, but she doesn't have any time to waste unlocking it. Matthew is already upstairs and checking rooms when she hears a door open down the hall. She lifts the heavy axe off of its hooks and she plants herself behind the door of the connecting room. She slowly locks it and takes her stand.

Matthew attempts to open the door to the room but it's locked. Getting annoyed he calls to her, "Darling? Let me in. I just want to talk to you." He sounds muffled through the two doors, but Jessica hears him struggling with the door. She creeps across the room and attempts to open the safe, still fixated on that gun. She tries the keys, shaking listening to Matthew plead his case at the door. He keeps knocking, harder and harder. "I just wanted us to be happy. Ever since your break up with Tom, I just wanted to make you happy. Seeing you at the Café, feeling hurt and abandoned. And it was clear, that Shawn guy could never give you what I can give you." Matthew continued rambling, not making much sense, but he had grabbed Jessica's attention. How could he know about Tom? Or Shawn? Did he kill Shawn? Feeling courageous, Jessica forgets about the shells and she grips the axe firmly. She approaches the door to the other room, and slowly unlocks it. He was saying inaudible things that she couldn't quite make out. Like he was scolding himself, calling himself stupid.

Walking slowly through the room, Jessica sweats as she leans against the door separating them. "Who are you really, Matthew?" She called through the door. He froze hearing her voice, "Please come out. I messed up really badly. Please, I just want another chance. Please come out." He asks her gently, begging her. "Did you kill Shawn?" She calls out at him. "Stupid, stupid, stupid." He repeats to himself quietly. "Shawn was nothing to you! He was nothing! I know you, Jessica. Me! I know what you need. I followed him as we walked home and the sicko watched porn the whole way!" He screamed at her. "Just a kid, looking for fun. He could never love you as I love you. He just wanted to love you like those girls he loves to watch." Matthew slammed up against the door startling Jessica.

"How can you love me when you've only just met me?" Matthew laughed wickedly at her words. "I have loved you since the first day I laid eyes on you. Watching you walk to school. Walking home. When you applied at the café. When you walked into that café, you stole my heart forever. Since the first time, you smiled at me. I knew you were my destiny." He rambled on to something that sent him cursing down the hallway. Jessica thought long and hard, she had never seen this guy before in her life! And the only person that was ever at the café when she told Erika her secrets was, "The homeless man." She said realizing, all this time, that was him. "You're the homeless man." She says a little louder so he can hear.

Matthew bangs at the door again, thrusting his body against it over and over again. "Open. Up. Open. Up." He screamed furiously as he ran into the door over and over again. "It was just a costume." She yelled at him. He stopped, "It was never supposed to be like this." He says sadly from the other side of the door. Suddenly, Jessica hears a familiar voice calling her from downstairs. "Jessica, where are you!?" Derrick's voice came from downstairs as he and Erika walked through the open front door. Matthew is silent, too silent. "NO!" Jessica screams as she unlocks the door at runs at Matthew with the axe.