Tennessee Whiskey

Chapter 15-Evan Part One

Chapter 15

Evan

I’m sitting in my office, working on some paperwork when my phone rings. “Hey baby. Everything okay?” I ask, an uneasy feeling in my stomach. “Can you come to the mission?” Mary asks. “Yeah. Everything okay?” I ask as I stand up and start grabbing my things. “I’ll explain when you get here.” She tells me and I head out of my office as we end the call. I tell my assistant to reschedule everything for me for the rest of the day and head to my car. Twenty minutes later I am pulling into the parking lot at the mission. I jump out of my car and head inside, to the conference room where I knew she was having her meeting.

I walk into the conference room and see her standing near Charlie and Izzy. I rush to her and cup her face, making her look at me. “Are you okay? Mia?” I ask and she cups my face back and says “We’re fine but something happened.” She tells me about Christopher and her seeing that fucker from the art store lurking around the side of Mia’s school and I see red. I look at Ashton and he has papers in his hand that he just got off the printer. I start to bark out orders and Ashton hands me the papers. “Christopher already has extra security at the school and Rico has already pulled his information.” Ashton tells me and I take the papers from him and start scanning over everything. “Let’s go. Call Logan.” I tell Ashton as we head out of the office. I kiss my wife and say “Christopher will make sure you and Mia get home safe. I don’t know how long I’ll be.” I tell her. “I love you.” She tells me. “I love you too.” I tell her before walking out the door with Ashton behind me.

We get to my car and he’s on the phone with Logan. “Yeah…meet us at the normal spot…See you in a few.” Ashton says. “Logan will be there when we get there.” He tells me and I nod before pulling out of the parking lot and heading to the warehouse we own. “I’ll f*****g gut him.” I seethe. “I know. We all will.” Ashton says. I shake my head and say “He’s mine. f*****g with my wife. My child.” I say through gritted teeth. I’m beyond pissed. “I know man. s**t. Your wife is smart though. She’s diligent and pays attention to her surroundings. We’ll find him man.” He tells me and I nod my agreement.

Once we make it to the warehouse, Logan is standing outside next to his car and Rico is standing just outside the door of the warehouse, waiting for us. We all head inside and as soon as we’re in one of the offices, we see a laptop on the top of the desk. “What do we know?” I ask. “We’ve got his address and phone number but his phone is apparently a burner because we can’t track it. I have a couple of guys watching his house incase he heads back there.” He tells us. “Let’s head that way.” I tell them and we all jump in Rico’s truck and he drives us there.

Pulling up the driveway, the house is surrounded by trees so it’s not seen from the road. We pull up to see that there is no sign of anyone around. Rico picks the lock and we slip inside. We start searching the house for…well…anything. Logan moves to the bedroom and as I go to head inside behind him, he stops me. “You don’t need to see this.” Logan says. “What? What is it?” I ask as I push into the room. Along one wall was pictures of Mary. Some were pictures of us together with his face pasted over mine. Some of those were of Mary and me, with my face covered by his with pictures of babies from magazines pasted to them like family photos. I turn to look at Logan. “We gotta find this fucker.” I say before storming out of the house. Ashton follows me and I pace in the front yard. “Hey. You gotta calm down.” He says. “Calm down? Did you see that s**t? He's created this whole f*****g family fantasy around my wife.” I seethe. “I know and we’ll find him but right now, you need to get home to your wife and daughter. You need to be there to make sure they’re safe until we find him.” He tells me and I look at him and nod. I walk for a couple of more minutes and take some deep breaths before getting in the car and heading back to the warehouse where my car is before heading home.

I walk into the house and it’s late. I know Mia is in bed. Jane meets me in the living room and hugs me. “Are you okay?” she asks. “No. We couldn’t find him. Rico’s got his men searching.” I tell her. “Mia is in bed and Mary is in the library.” She tells me. I kiss her cheek before heading upstairs to my family. I open Mia’s door and she’s sleeping in her bed, holding her stuffed animal we got her. I walk over, quietly, and kiss the top of her head, careful not to wake her. Closing her door, after making sure she was okay, I head to the library.

I walk into the library and Mary is on the couch drawing. It’s what she does when she’s stressed out. She looks up and sees me. Rushing to me, she wraps her arms around me before looking up at me and I hold her close. “Are you okay?” she asks and I shake my head no. She leads me over to the couch and pushes me to sit before straddling my lap. I cup her face and kiss her softly and she cups my face in return. “We couldn’t find him.” I tell her and she kisses me one more time. “You will.” She tells me. She has so much faith in me. “We found his house but it looks like no one’s been there for a few days. But there’s something else.” I tell her. She laces her fingers behind my neck. My hands move to her hips and I look into her eyes and say “He had a wall of photos. Some were of just you. Some of me and you together with his face pasted over mine. But the most disturbing were the ones of you that had him pasted on and cutouts of babies from magazines pasted on there. Like he made his own family portraits with you.” I tell her and she stiffens in my lap. My hands cup her face quickly and I put my forehead to hers and say “I won’t let anything happen.” And she nods.

She stands from my lap and holds out her hand. “Let’s head to bed.” I nod and take her hand as I stand. We head to our bedroom but I stop outside of Mia’s bedroom door. I let go of Mary’s hand and step inside Mia’s room and move to her bed. I pull the cover back and lift her off the bed and into my arms. “Daddy?” she asks. “It’s me Princess. Go back to sleep.” I whisper and she snuggles into me. I step out of Mia’s room and Mary closes her door. As we step into our bedroom, she pulls down the covers and I gently lay Mia in the middle of the bed before Mary slides into bed on one side of her and I move to the closet to get into my pajamas and slip into bed on the other side of Mia. She snuggles into my chest and I wrap one arm around her and one around Mary, holding my family close.

The next morning, I wake up and Mary and Mia are still sleeping. I take my phone off the charger on the nightstand and slip out of the room and down to the kitchen. I start the coffee and check my phone for messages before pouring a cup and adding my creamer. I call Rico’s number and he answers on the second ring. “Any update?” I ask as he answers. “We think we have a lead but no sightings of him yet.” He tells me. “What’s the lead?” I ask. “I put the word out to some of my contacts and they saw him last night at a local motel but when we got there, he was already gone. Didn’t leave anything behind.” He tells me. “Keep me posted.” I tell him and end the call.

A few minutes later, Jane comes into the kitchen to start breakfast. “Morning Evan.” She says. “Morning.” I say. Mary and Mia come into the kitchen and Mia comes right to me. “Morning Daddy.” She says before kissing my cheek and laying her head on my shoulder. “Is she going to school today?” Jane asks. Mary looks at me and says “We need to keep things as normal as possible for her. Security will still be at the school.” She tells me and I nod. After breakfast, we head to drop her off at school and I walk with Mary to walk Mia to her classroom.

Once we leave, I drop Mary off at the mission and say “Christopher will pick you up when it’s time to get Mia.” And she nods. Kissing me softly, she whispers “Be careful.” I nod and kiss her softly again before heading to my office until I hear from Rico. In the meantime, I look into Gabriel’s background a little more and find that there was another woman that had a restraining order against him. I find her information and make the call. “Can I speak to Linda Gaines?” I ask. “This is she. Who is this?” she asks. “My name is Evan Black and I was wondering if I could ask you a few questions about Gabriel Mitchell.” I say. “I have a restraining order against him. If you’re contacting me for him…” she starts and I say “I’m not. He’s stalking my wife and child.” I tell her. “No. No. This isn’t happening. You need to make sure you have them somewhere safe. He wants a family but he doesn’t take no for an answer.” She tells me. “Can you tell me what happened to you?” I ask. “We used to work together. He started trying to talk to me at first but I was seeing someone and told him I wasn’t interested when he asked me out. He started following me home and he would show up wherever I was and watch me with my boyfriend and my friends. He kept asking me out and I kept turning him down. My boyfriend broke up with me and one night he caught me alone and kidnapped me. I was locked in his basement in a cage. He showed me pictures of me and my boyfriend with his face pasted on. He kept telling me about how we were going to make beautiful babies but I was able to escape before he could do anything to me.” She tells me. “How is he not still in jail?” I ask. “Apparently his uncle is some lawyer and was able to get him out of it and just probation. I had to go to three different judges to get my restraining order.” She tells me. “Do you have any idea where he could hide? Maybe previous places you knew him to be?” I ask. “Um…the only place is the house he held me at. It was his mom’s old house before she died.” She tells me. “You happen to know that address?” I ask. “Yeah. 732 Old Elm Creek Road. House is built into the side of an embankment so no one can hear you scream.” She tells me. “Thank you.” I tell her. “Keep your family safe.” She tells me before hanging up.

I pull up the address and start researching the area. I’m there for a couple of hours when my phone rings and it’s Mary. “Hey baby.” I say. “Evan. He took Mia.” She says and she’s crying. “Where are you?” I ask, getting up from my chair and heading towards the door. “The school. Evan. He has our baby.” She sobs. “I’m on my way baby. Christopher with you?” I ask as I get to my car. “Yes.” She says. “Stay with him. I’ll be there in ten.” I tell her as I head towards the school.

I pull up in front of the school and jump out of my car. The officer tries to stop me but Rico walks over and tells him that it’s my child, to let me through. I run up to Mary and we wrap our arms around each other and she sobs in my arms. “We’ll find her. I promise.” I tell her. “Do you have any idea of who could have taken your daughter?” one of the officers asks. “Gabriel Mitchell. He’s been following my wife and was seen here on the property the other day.” I tell him and he makes note. Rico walks over and gets the officer’s attention. I look at him and he nods to Logan and Ashton to the side. Izzy and Lori come running up to us and I tell Mary “I’ll be right over here. Stay with the girls.” I tell her and then I look at Christopher. He nods and says “I’ve got her.” I nod before heading to my two best friends.

I walk up to Ashton and Logan and say “I want this fucker now.” They nod and motion me to the side. “We know what he was driving. 2003 Mazda. Gray. We just need to know where he took her. Can’t find anything on the traffic cameras.” He tells me. “I think I know where they are. I looked into him a little more and there was a restraining order against him for stalking. Fucker kidnapped her. Had a f*****g picture wall like the one we found.” I tell them the address and we go to head out. I walk over to Mary and kiss her softly. “Christopher is going to take you home. I think I know where he took Mia so I’m going to get her.” I tell her. “Bring my baby home.” She says and I nod before kissing her one more time before heading out with my best friends and Rico.

We pull up to the house and we sneak up to the house. Looking in the windows, we don’t see anyone inside. We break into the house and I tell them about the basement. We head downstairs and see a twin mattress on the floor. I see a small pillow and thin blanket but that’s it. We start searching the area for any sign of Mia and Gabriel and then I see something under the edge of the blanket. I walk over and raise the blanket and see Mia’s shoe. I pick it up and my knees start to buckle. Logan catches me and I say “They were here. He brought her here.” After I take a minute to get myself together, we head back out and I don’t know where else to go.

“They were here.” I tell Rico and show him Mia’s shoe. Rico steps to the side and starts making phone calls. “We’ll find her, man.” Ashton says. I look at him and I’m lost. “We have to find her. If he hurts her…” I start and Logan cuts me off “Don’t finish that thought. He wants a family. He won’t hurt her.” He tells me and I have to believe that. “Head back to your wife and we’ll keep looking. I’ll call you as soon as we know something more.” Rico says. I nod and shake his hand before heading home to Mary.

I walk in the door at home and both Mary and Jane rush to me. “Did you find her?” Mary asks. “Not yet baby. Rico and his men are checking out some leads but we need to keep our heads in the game. We need to make sure we’re alert and ready when Rico calls.” I tell her and she nods. I can see how red her eyes are and I lead both of them into the living room where Izzy and Lori are sitting and Lori has Maggie wrapped in her baby wrap, strapped to her chest and she’s sleeping. Mary clings to me and I lead her to the couch to sit before sitting next to her. “Have you found out anything?” Izzy asks. “Not yet. Rico and his men are following a couple of leads. We just have to be ready for when he calls.” I tell them. It isn’t long before Logan and Ashton come walking in to collect their wives and we are left alone, just the three of us. “I can’t handle this, Evan. She’s out there somewhere. I know she’s scared. What if she has a nightmare? She can’t sleep without her stuffy. She has to have her stuffy.” She starts to ramble and I can see she’s headed into a panic attack. “Baby, take a breath. We’re going to find her.” I say, trying to soothe her. “How can you say that?” she asks, jerking away from me. “Our baby is out there, alone with this prick. He has our baby and you’re here. What are you doing to find her? Nothing. You’re here telling me to take a f*****g breath. f**k you Evan.” She tells me and storms upstairs. “She didn’t mean it, son.” Jane tells me. “I know. I’ll give her a couple of minutes, make her some tea and talk to her.” I tell her and she kisses my cheek before heading to her bedroom.