Chapter 6 Only a few minutes had passed and Jeff couldn’t stand waiting any longer.  Not sure of where he was going, Jeff grabbed his cell phone and his keys and headed for the front door.  As he reached for the knob, there was a knock at the door.  He froze.  What if this stalker, this sick individual was on the other side of that door.  The knock came again.  Taking a deep breath, Jeff turned the knob and swung the door open.  He stood in shock as he stared at his visitor. "I need to talk to you.", Tommy said with a grin. Jeff’s mind began to race.  "YOU!!!", he yelled as he lunged at Tommy, punching him in the face and causing him to fall to the ground.  Jeff jumped on top of Kari’s ex-husband and began to yell at him, "Where is she?  What did you do to her?!?!" "Get off of me!", Tommy  yelled trying to push Jeff off.   Jeff tried to punch Tommy again but was stopped as another hand grabbed his arm and he felt himself being lifted up to stand.  Jeff’s heart was racing as he turned to stare at his brother with bewilderment. "What are you doing?", Matt asked. "It’s him.  He’s kidnapped her and now he’s gonna kill her.", Jeff huffed as he struggled to catch his breath.  Then he lunged for Tommy who had managed to make it to his feet.  Once again, Matt caught him causing his brother to stop. "Just calm down, Jeffro.  You’re not making sense.", Matt insisted. "Dude, what the hell are you talking about.", Tommy asked wiping the blood that had trickled from his bleeding lip onto his chin.   Jeff looked around at Tommy, his brother and Shea who he hadn’t seen standing there. "Jeff?  What’s going on?", Shea asked almost in tears.   Ignoring her question, Jeff turned to Tommy, "What are you doing here?" "I wanted to talk to you and Kari.", Tommy started, "Mostly Kari."   "About what?!?", Jeff demanded.   "I’ve finally gotten my life straightened out.  No more drugs, no more alcohol.  And, well, I came to ask Kari to forgive me.  I know what I did to her was wrong and I know I can never get her back or even make it up to her.  Her forgiveness would help me to put the past in the past and get on with my life.  I just wanted to tell her how very sorry I am.", Tommy explained.   Jeff didn’t believe him or trust him for that matter. "It’s true.", Matt interjected.  Jeff turned to look at his brother.  "He came to talk to me first, to see if I thought she’d forgive him.  I believe him, Jeff.", Matt said with complete certainty. Jeff was still skeptical.  He looked at Shea who nodded in agreement.  He then turned to Tommy, "Sorry, man."  He wasn’t really sorry, for even if Tommy was telling the truth, Jeff had wanted to hit him for so long that it felt good. "It’s all good.", Tommy said, "I would feel the same way." "Why did you think he kidnapped her?’, Shea asked. Jeff motioned for the others to follow as he walked into the house.  He showed his latest mail to them and explained what had happened. "We have to do something.", Tommy insisted as the phone rang.  They all stared at it for a moment as if they were scared to answer it - scared that it would be bad news.  Snapping himself from his thoughts, Jeff jumped for the phone and said, "hello?"  It was a frantic Blake.  "Blake!  Blake!  Slow down!  I can’t understand a word you’re saying." "She’s gone.  The door was open and all of her things are there, but she’s just gone." "Blake, call the police.  Now!  I’m on the next plane." "DAMNIT!!", Jeff yelled as he slammed the receiver down. "What?", Matt asked.  But before Jeff could answer, the phone rang again.  Jerking up the receiver, Jeff yelled, "Just call the damn police, Blake!" But no one answered.  "Blake?", Jeff asked getting an uneasy feeling.  "No.", a deep voice sounded from the other end. "Who is this?!?" "That doesn’t matter." "What do you want?!?  Where’s my wife?!?!", Jeff was panicking.  Matt put his hand on his brother’s shoulder.  "You’re wife is gone!  Get over it and get on with your life.  She wasn’t good enough for you anyway.  That’s why I killed her.  She wasn’t good enough for anyone.  She was born trash and would always be trash.  So let’s just say, I took out the trash.  You should thank me.", and the deep voice laughed an evil laugh and hung up. The color drained from Jeff’s face and he threw the phone across the room as he screamed at the top of his lungs, "NNNOOOOOOOOOOOOO!!!!!!!!!" "Jeff?", Shea asked.  Jeff repeated the conversation with the others as he rushed around gathering his things.   "Where are you going?", Shea asked as through her tears she watched her brother-in-law heading towards the front door.  "I’m going to Spain.", he said hurrying out the front door.   "Wait up!", Tommy called after him. "What?!?!", Jeff snapped.   "I’m coming with you!", Tommy insisted as he followed Jeff to his car. "Fine!  Get in!", Jeff demanded. "I’m coming too!", Matt called right on their heels. "Me too!", She called. "There’s no room!", Jeff yelled as he started his corvette. Matt leaned over to look into the driver’s side window, "I’ll run home and get my stuff and meet you at the airport." "Hurry up!  I’m not going to wait on you.", Jeff said putting the car into reverse and squealing tires as he pulled onto the street and sped off.  Matt and Shea hurried into Matt’s car headed to their house. "I don’t know where my passport is.", Shea told her husband who stared straight ahead, determination obvious on his face.   "You need to stay here.", Matt told her.   "Are you crazy?  Matt, she’s my best friend.", Shea started but was interrupted. "I know that.  But I need you to stay here.  I couldn’t bare it if something happened to you too.", he insisted.   Shea sighed heavily, "I can’t stay."   The car pulled into their driveway and Matt shut the engine off.  He turned to his wife and placed his hand on her cheek, "Shea, I love you, but you can’t go.  Besides, I need you to stay with Dad.  I need you to tell him what’s going on and the local police too.  Take those letters that Jeff got to them.  Dad’s gonna be beside himself with worry.  Please." Against her wishes, Shea agreed.   Matt gathered his things and kissed his wife goodbye, promising to call her when he got to Spain.                 Last Chapter ..*.. Next Chapter ..*.. Chapter Index ..*.. Home