by Vivian Ward
Running a little late. Let’s plan on going out at 9:00 instead of 7:00. See you soon. Love you beautiful.
After sending the message, I called Sarabelle to let her know that we were going to head out a little later than scheduled. She seemed relieved as she was getting a late start on getting ready as well. She told me that we would have probably been waiting on her anyway so the new time worked out perfectly for her.
I finished up all the work I had left and looked at the clock one more time before leaving the office for the day. It was already 7:10. It was going to take me at least twenty minutes to get so the best case scenario would leave me ninety-minutes to shower, shave and get dressed to get out.
Walking out to the car, I fished my cell phone out of my pocket again to let Lexi know I was on my way. Once again, the phone rang several times before her voice mail picked up. I couldn’t help but think that it was odd that she still wasn’t picking up my calls but I wrote it off to being paranoid, especially after everything that had happened leading up to that day.
Since I couldn’t reach Lexi on the phone, I called her sister to let her know I was leaving work.
“Hey Sarabelle, it’s Liam. I’m leaving work now. Everybody still set to go for 9:00?”
“Yep, we’re planning on leaving here about 8:30.”
“Okay good. I’ll try to be ready by then if at all possible. By the way, have you heard from your sister at all this afternoon?”
“No, I haven’t. I tried to call her a few hours ago but she didn’t answer her phone. Is everything okay?”
“Oh yeah, I’m sure everything is fine. I’ve just been trying to reach her as well and haven’t been able to get her on the line.”
“Well, you know how she is, especially when she’s getting ready to go out.”
“That’s exactly what I was thinking. I’ll be at my house in a few minutes. I’ll be sure to give her hell for not taking your call,” I said with a laugh. “We’ll see you guys in a bit.”
I hung up the phone and drove a little faster than I should have. I wanted to get home as soon as possible so I could calm the uneasy feelings I was having. It seemed like it was taking forever even though I knew I was making record time.
When I finally pulled into the driveway, I was relieved to see that things looked normal and everything was nice and quiet. Well, quiet except for the Houston’s dog who never shut up. It didn’t matter what time of day it was, that little fucker would yap and yap all the time.
Finally, I was able to let out a deep sigh of relief. What had happened to me? Why would I let myself get so worked up over a thought in my head? I put the car and made my way to the front door. All of the relief I had felt moments before as I saw that the door appeared to have been kicked in.
I grabbed my cell phone and cautiously opened the door. If whoever kicked the door in was still inside the house, I didn’t want them to know I was approaching. Desperate to know she was okay, I put my phone on silent and dialed Lexi’s phone again. My heart sank when I heard her phone ringing inside the house.
Walking into the house, it was clear that there had been a struggle. There was broken glass from the breakfast dishes all over the floor, the living room television was lying on its side and I had paperwork thrown everywhere. Whoever had entered the house didn’t get what they wanted without a fight of some sort. My only hope was that Lexi had survived and was somewhere in the house.
“Holy shit,” I thought to myself. I needed to see if she was in the house. For all I knew, she could have been lying on the floor bleeding, cold and all alone. I ran into the bedroom, noticing that door had been kicked in as well. I wondered why someone would do that since the door doesn’t even lock.
Lexi wasn’t in the room but you could tell she had been there recently. On the bed were several different outfits that she had strewn across the bed. She’d gotten out some of the nicer clothes she had, apparently wanting to look good for me that evening.
“Lexi! Are you here?” I yelled as I went into the bathroom. She wasn’t there either. Nor was she in any other room of the house. She was gone and I felt like I was about to be sick. Where was she? That was the question. Had whoever been in the house taken her? Had someone hurt her? Was she able to call for help and was now in the hospital? There were so many thoughts running through my mind that I didn’t even know how to process them all.
I grabbed my phone and called the police to report a break-in and possible abduction. At first, they didn’t seem to be taking me seriously, saying the would send someone out when they had time.
It wasn’t until I clarified who I was and what our connection was to the Kade Nichols case that they got their asses in gear. It still took someone nearly a half-hour to get to my house but who knows how long it would have been otherwise.
While waiting for the police to arrive, I called Lexi again to fill her in on what was happening. Her and Christian were getting ready to leave their house to come to mine but I told them to hold off a little bit.
I was sure the officers were going to be all over the place and I didn’t want extra people there getting in the way. I understood why she wanted to be there but, unfortunately, she didn’t have any information that was going to aid in the investigation so sitting back and waiting was going to be the best thing she could do. I had to promise to call her back as soon as I knew anything to convince her to stay at home.
I was a little dismayed with the way the police officers handled everything when they got to my home. An overweight cop with gray hair and the bushiest mustache I’d ever seen walked in and took a lap around the house before getting his little notepad out of his belt and starting in on me with questions.
I was being interrogated in my living room while my girl was out there somewhere in need of help. Were these officers so short-sighted that they couldn’t see that?
“We always have to start with those closest to the missing person and work our way out from there,” was all the officer could tell me. I felt like all we were doing was wasting time. I’d been at work all day and there were plenty of people of people who could back me up on that. Hell, I'd fielded at least 25 calls from various people that day. Why not look into me later and focus on looking for Lexi in the meantime?
It took everything I had not to lose my patience. I was seething inside but was trying not to let it show. I knew what the cops were attempting to do. They were suspicious of me and were trying to break me down. If I would have allowed myself to get heated and lost control, that would have only made them focus on me even more.
When the officers asked if Lexi had any enemies or if I knew of anyone who might want to harm her, the only person I could think of was Kade. That didn’t help matters at all.
“So you’re telling me that the only enemy your girlfriend has is Kade Nichols. He’s the only person you can think of who might wish to do her harm?” the officer sarcastically asked.
“Yes, sir,” I replied. “She kind of keeps to herself. She doesn’t have a lot of friends but she doesn’t really have any enemies either.”
“You are aware that Kade Nichols was sent to prison today, correct?”
“Yes, I am aware.”
“Then how do you suppose he was able to get to Miss Williams?” he asked, this time his tone was almost mocking me. As much as I had tried to control myself, I couldn’t do it any longer.
“I didn’t say that he did,” I snapped at the officer. “I simply answered your ridiculous fucking line of questions. You asked if ANYONE wanted to do her harm and I said that he’s the only one I can think of. Never did I say that he broke out of the fucking prison to come and abduct her. Jesus, what is wrong with you people? Something has happened to my girlfriend and you guys want to sit here with your hands on your dicks. Can we please figure out where she is?”
The officer made eye contact with one of the other investigators, giving him a knowing look. The look said see, there’s something to this guy. I bet he knows right where she is withou
t ever having to say a word. The officer got up and looked around the house some more.
He snapped a few photos of the scene but didn’t take any fingerprints. When I questioned why, he said that they couldn’t get any clean ones from where they dusted. He claimed that if someone was in the house, they were probably wearing gloves.
“Otherwise, we’d probably just end up with a bunch of your prints and that might look a little suspicious, don’t you think?”
That motherfucker! If it wouldn’t have led to my arrest, I would have punched him in the face right then and there. Instead, I stared blankly at him and he handed me his card.
“If you hear from her or anyone who might know her whereabouts, please give me a call.”
And just like that, they were gone. Suddenly, I was alone inside my house for the first time in months. It seemed so big, empty and lonely without Lexi being there with me. I called Sarabelle and filled them in on what was going on.
They raced right over so I wouldn’t have to be by myself. I felt like I was about to lose it. I wanted to break down and cry but I knew I needed to be strong for Lexi’s sake. She needed me and I had to be ready and alert if I received any tip about where she might be.
As soon as she got there, Sarabelle grabbed her sister’s phone and started calling everyone that was listed in the address book inside. One by one, she kept hearing the same thing. The person she was talking to hadn’t heard from Lexi but they would call if they heard anything from her.
At one point, Christian told me I should try to get some rest so I wouldn’t be worthless to her if she needed me. That was easy for him to say. What would he do if Sarabelle, the woman he’d been sharing his bed with, suddenly disappeared? There was no way he’d be able to relax until she was found.
Still, he wouldn’t give it up and assured me that Sarabelle was working hard to find some answers. I went into my room to appease him but, as I suspected, was not able to rest at all. After about an hour, I gave up entirely and started to pace around the house.
Since the police officers had done such a piss poor job during their investigation, I figured I should walk around and look for clues myself. I paced back and forth in the rooms that had been the most disheveled hoping to find something, anything that would tell me what happened to her.
Unfortunately, whoever had been in my house hadn’t left anything. It would have been nice to find something big like a wallet or business card but I knew something like that was never going to happen. Of course, they didn’t leave any smaller clues for me to find either.
She was just gone and I had no idea what I was going to be able to do to find her. Just when I was about to abandon all hope and have a nuclear meltdown, I looked up to see a tiny red light flashing on my answering machine.
I knew right away that the light wasn’t from someone calling me and leaving a message. That wasn’t just because nobody calls the house phone anymore but because if someone had left a message on the machine, the flashing light would be green.
The red light told me that the message was recorded from the device itself, meaning whoever left the message had to have done it from within side the house.
Knowing the message might be Lexi telling me where she was, I pressed the button as quickly as I could. Those hopes were quickly dashed when I didn’t hear her voice but instead heard nothing but a bunch of noise. I listened to it over and over, hoping to be able to make something out amongst the sounds of dishes breaking and overall mayhem.
Eventually, I was able to hear Lexi’s screams on the tape and thought I was going to throw up. I had a feeling there was something there but I couldn’t find it.
As much as I didn’t want to give up, I thought I wasn’t going to have any other choice. I couldn’t stand to hear my girlfriend’s screams. Right as I was about to call it quits, I spotted a pair of headphones sitting on my desk. Looking at the back of the answering machine, I was relieved to find the correct jack to plug the headphones into.
Using the headphones allowed me to hear much more, including Lexi fighting with all her heart against what sounded like two male attackers. In-between calling her every name in the book, they men yelled back and forth to one another.
While still hard to make out exactly what they were saying, I was able to catch one of the men telling the other that they needed to get out of there. Their big mistake? One of the guys used the other’s name when he said: “Hey Matteo, let’s get the fuck out of here.”
Hearing that name sent a rush of adrenaline through my body. Not only did I know he was but I realized that I had forgotten someone who might have something against Lexi. If Matteo was the same person I was thinking of, he was Camilla’s cousin.
He’s your typical thug who will do anything for money including, apparently, abducting my girlfriend. The good news was that I was pretty sure who had taken my girl. The bad news was that I wasn’t sure whether or not I was too late to do something about it.
I dropped the headphones on the floor and ran into the kitchen where Sarabelle and Christian were making calls. “Christian, you’re coming with me,” I said. “I think I know who has Lexi and, if I’m right, I’m going to need backup to save her.”
Christian didn’t think twice. He put his phone is his pocket and the two of us ran out the door while telling Sarabelle to call us if she heard anything at all.
Lexi 17
As I started to come to, I could tell that were still inside the van. The only difference was that this time, the van was actually moving. My head was pounding with easily the worst headache I’d ever experienced. This headache even rivaled some of the worst hangovers I’d ever had.
I started to open my eyes only to find that they didn’t want to work. Maybe that was a good thing. If I opened my eyes, they would know that I had regained consciousness.
Who knew what they would do to me after that. Would they knock me out again? Would they do something even worse? I didn’t know and I wasn’t about to find out.
Instead of opening my eyes, I laid there on the floor of the van pretending to still be out cold. Lying there, I would be able to listen to anything that was said in the van.
Hopefully, I’d be able to gather some information that might be able to help figure out where I was or where these people were taking me. As luck would have it, none of these guys were particularly into conversation. The trip was made in relative silence until Camilla started talking.
I kept waiting for someone to answer her as she went on and on with her rant but the replies never came. It took me a little while to figure out that this nut job was talking to herself. Through her rants, I was able to figure out what her purpose was for taking me.
She thought she’d be able to snatch me and hide me away for as long as necessary. She knew that Liam would try to find me. What kind of man wouldn’t try to find his girlfriend who just turned up missing? When she started saying that Liam would stop looking after a week or two, I knew she was bonkers.
If something ever happened to Liam and he couldn’t be found, there was no way I would just stop looking. You don’t do that if you truly care about someone. In her mind, however, not only would Liam stop looking for me but he would also come crawling back to her because he’d be so lonely and grief stricken.
“This bitch belongs in a padded room,” I said to myself, talking in a hushed tone that only I could hear. I could feel the sting on my lip where the back of her hand had made contact. That was the first time I realized the copper taste in my mouth was actually blood from my busted lip.
I know I’ve made some poor decisions and had my own delusions in my life but she actually thought that things would somehow go back to the way things used to be when it came to her and Liam.
I had no idea how long we'd been driving so if I had the chance to contact someone, I’d have no way to estimate how far away we’d gone. All I knew was that the van made a sharp left turn before coming to a stop. My body started to shake as I imagined all the true crime sho
ws I’ve watched over the years.
Was the van parked in a heavily wooded area? Were we going to be right in the center of a bunch of abandoned lot? Were we somewhere that would allow Liam and my sister t positively identify my body quickly? I was definitely thinking with a worst case scenario mindset.
When the van door slid open with a loud pop, I was relieved to see that we were in a residential area. One of the big guys grabbed me and warned me that if I even thought about screaming or running away, there would be some pretty severe consequences.
I wasn’t going to test my luck because the look in his face told me he meant business. I nodded that I agreed before being pulled out of the can and brought to a house.
Camilla led us inside the house and into her garage, where she had a metal door coming out of the concrete floor. She ordered me inside and I was instantly scared shitless. I’m extremely claustrophobic and thought of having to sit in such a small, confined space made me nauseous. The steps led down to a tiny storm shelter. I was frozen in place, unable to move.
“Do you have a hearing problem?” she yelled. “Get your ass down there.”
I shook my head no, hoping she’d have at least a tiny bit of compassion and wouldn’t force me to go down there. Of course, the kindness never came.
“You either get down there right now or I’ll have my boys put you in there. Believe me when I say you don’t want them to do that.”
Looking over at the big, strong, burly, mean-looking men, I decided it would be best to take her word on that. They’d already busted into Liam’s house and yanked me out of there without the slightest regard for my well-being. They’d done or said nothing that would lead me to believe that they wouldn’t do even more to me if I forced their hand.
I had to keep telling myself that I was going to be okay even though I didn’t believe it in any way. Slowly, I stepped on the top stair leading into the storm shelter. My entire body was shaking so much that I wondered how I was going to make it down there without falling. With each step I took, I could feel my knees wanting to give out from under me.