Desire ch. 46 - Where is...

[itztigress3]

Chapter 46 – Where is…
POV: Zac
Word Count: 4332


January 25, 2010; Monday

I was still at the hospital with Emily and I would stay until she went home. Craig and his friend had been at our house over the weekend and had gone through our personal computers, laptops included. His team was currently at 3CG studios, they were also there Sunday.

Emily was doing better, she was now able to get up and move around a bit more and they had put her on solid foods, which was a good sign. She had made her older three brothers remain in Georgia, saying she would much rather see them in March and that she had plenty of support and security here, none of them had been happy but they did agree.

Zander was currently checking his work and making sure things were still on track, he seemed pleased. I liked Zander, not just because he saved her life but because he seemed to genuinely care about his patients, not just her either. He was attentive and supportive and he and Aaron made a good couple. I certainly won’t mind having him as a future brother-in-law, assuming gay marriages were ever legalized in the United States.

When he was satisfied with her progress he approved her to have more solids and ordered a breakfast tray for her, which was good news. She walked for him for a bit but the thigh wound was giving her problems with the pain. He finally left and Aaron ran down to get him and I breakfast as well. The police were scheduled to show up at one. The morning passed quickly, Emily pretty much slept and Aaron and I engaged in card games. It was oddly peacefully without our phones ringing every hour. At 12:45 two detectives came in, a male and a female. I hadn’t seen either of them before. Aaron stepped out with the promise of bringing me lunch back as soon as I called and cleared him too.

“Good Evening Mr. Hanson, Miss. Daniels.” She said.

“Evening.” We replied.

“I am Detective Rebecca Walker and this is my partner Detective Jack Duncan. We have been assigned to your case.”

I looked at the two detectives that were standing in the room. Detective Walker looked like she was in her thirties with medium red hair and bright green eyes, she had freckles under her eyes and her features were soft, her height looked to be about five seven. Detective Duncan on the other hand was very tall, at least six feet with broad shoulders and large muscles. He was an African American man with very short black hair with hints of white throughout and his eyes were the color of dark chocolate.

“What happen to Detective Morris? He had been handling our case.” I said.

“Detective Morris was relieved of your case, he was not really doing much to solve it and when questioned on why he failed to take the threats more serious he had no answer. Considering the escalation of your stalker and the result, we believe new and fresh eyes are warranted.” Detective Duncan said.

Emily looked up at them. “Are you actually going to take us seriously or is this just a formality? We’ve contacted him several times about e-mails, text messages, and even some packages and he’s not really been concerned with any of them.”

“Yes, that is why your case was moved. Our chief believes that the severity of some of the messages should have warranted a better and more careful look.” She said.

I sat down on the side of the bed, where we both could face them and they chose to stand near the foot of the bed.

“How are you feeling Miss. Daniels?” She asked.

“Better than I was last Thursday that’s for sure, there is soreness and pain obviously.”

“Understandable considering the events that occurred.” She said.

“My brother said you were finished with our house? He brought us pictures to see the damage. Are we now clear to repair?” I asked.

“Yes. If you don’t have a contractor in mine we can recommend some.” Detective Duncan said.

“We have one in mind, but thank you.” I replied.

“We just wanted to clarify a few things that your brother, Mr. Daniels, told us.” She said.

“Ok.” Emily said.

“Mr. Daniels said the gun was his, we did recover a 9mm Smith and Wesson M&P Shield from the house. We also found other weapons up-stairs. Were you aware of these guns being in the house?”

“I knew about the ones up-stairs, there’s Zac’s but there all supposed to be unloaded and in a lock box. I was not aware that Aaron brought his gun.”

“Yes, we found the registration for the lock box to be Mr. Hanson’s and the 9mm was registered to Aaron Daniels. Can you explain why he was in the home with you?”

“He was there because I wouldn’t leave her there alone, the messages were pretty graphic and she didn’t want to come with me so he agreed to stay the days that I was gone.”

“Mr. Daniels tested positive for gunshot residue on his hands. But he did admit that he was certain he fired at least four shots. However, he was not sure which four and he couldn’t determine whether he or the other man were responsible for the two that hit you.”

“Yes, he and I have talked about that and I am aware that this was an accident and that his intention was not to shoot me but use the gun to protect me. I heard the other person scream out in pain and there are pictures of blood in our hallway, I wasn’t in the hallway.” Emily said.

“Yes. The crime scene units collected samples from the kitchen which we are sure is yours, the foyer we collected samples from and the hallway. We have yours and Mr. Daniels samples; it may take time for the DNA results to come back. There was also blood in the garage, the driveway, and leading to the fence in the rear of your property. We believe he went over the fence as blood was found on the other side but the trail vanished.”

“Adam Campbell, he was the one there. He was the one who broke into the house.” Emily said.

“We read over Detective Morris’s notes, it says that you believe Paul Robertson was watching you?”  Detective Duncan said.

“Yes. We were unsure before Halloween but we didn’t report it but he was there. He admitted to me that it was him, but we could never really prove it. The messages and e-mails come from unregistered numbers or common places like Yahoo where anyone could create e-mails.” Emily said.

“We turned over the messages and e-mails to Detective Morris, but he basically said there was nothing we can do. He doesn’t state it’s him sending them and he never bothered to trace anything. We just figured there wasn’t anything we could do.” I said.

“It’s very hard to prove who is sending such messages. We read what you had turned in and honestly they shouldn’t have been ignored. The first several weren’t too bad but the last few months have been pretty graphic in nature.”

We both waited there on them to continue, this wasn’t something we didn’t know.

“The escalation came in December; do you believe this is when Adam became more personally involved?”

“Yes. He sent a message Christmas Eve. He was released the 23^rd. I had an officer verify that because Detective Morris did call and tell us.”

“Ok. Concerning your alarm CompTech Securities is going to report on their findings, Tulsa Alarms said that a code was entered at 11:15 pm and that code belonged to you Zachary, that code disarmed the alarm completely. But, we have confirmation that you were in El Paso, Texas at the time.” She said.

“What about the spare bedroom door?” I asked.

“We found signs that the door was locked and then cement was used to jam the door so it wouldn’t open. Mr. Daniels said he had to break it and he did, he busted the interior of the door to get out of the room.” He replied.

“So, he locked the door and then used some kind of cement product to jam it so it wouldn’t open?” Emily asked.

“Yes. We believe it was a quick mix or something that was quick setting. There still running tests to determine what it exactly is.” He replied.

“Is there any reason why this person would enter at 11:15 and not make any move on you until after one? That was two hours he was inside the house and your brother indicated that nothing was missing or out of place.” She said.

I looked at Emily puzzled, because I didn’t have a clue what he would have done for two hours. She sat there for several moments before she looked at me and her face paled some.

“He was looking for picture albums; it’s the only plausible explanation.” She said.

“Picture albums?” Detective Walker asked.

I knew now why she paled; she would have to tell them about those albums.

“Last October I found three picture albums retrieved from my father’s house. The pictures were inappropriate for him to have. There were pictures from the attack in February 2008 as well as what appeared to be hidden cameras in my bedroom when I was a teenager. My father told me he was holding them for Adam, but I didn’t believe him. I told him I was keeping them. We still have them but there not at home, there at a safety deposit box at the bank we use. It was a truly secure location given their explicit nature.”

“Pictures of you?” She asked.

Emily explained what was in the albums and why we didn’t turn them over, which she didn’t feel like she should, but it was very clear that it was not our choice anymore.

“Can you retrieve them and turn them in?” Detective Walker asked.

“Yes. But, one of us has to go and I can’t.”

“I can once she’s out of the hospital, I can arrange to have several people sit with her.” I said.

“We’d appreciate it.”

They went over a few more questions, mostly just verifying her statements and making sure they had everything. She told them about Adam as well.

“Has he always been around you?”  She asked.

Detective Walker seemed very interested in that dynamic. I wondered why she hesitated though.

“Yes. Adam was always present in my life until I was about eight. He went to jail for killing the woman in the third album. He didn’t get out until I was 15 and that was right before my father said I was marrying him.”

“Do you recall any inappropriate behavior when he was around?”

“I didn’t, but I asked my brother about it and he told me that when I was four he noticed Adam was…he told me that he noticed more than once that I had turned him on, I was four and six. He said he talked to our father when I was four and when I was six he hit him because I was actually sitting in his lap. I only remembered being yanked out of his lap and then ice cream.”

She’d never told me she talked to George about that, never mentioned what he said either.

“Do you believe that he’s a threat to you still?”

She looked right at her. “He wants to take me away and make me some robotic pet. He won’t stop until that happens. He believes that he’s had me and lost me twice already, three if you count this time. He’s not going to stop.”

She smiled and leaned over laid her hand over Emily’s. “We’re going to stop him.”

They asked a few more questions before they said their goodbyes, I waited until they were out of the room and called Aaron for lunch and then looked at her.

“You didn’t tell me you called George and asked about Adam.”

“Wouldn’t have made much different Zac, you already know Adam is obsessive.”

“I didn’t know he was that obsessive.”

“I called him in October. It doesn’t matter now; he’s just not going to give up. He’ll keep trying until he catches me alone and without someone around.”

“Fat chance of that ever happening.”

“You’re going to what Zachary? Put your whole life on pause because of him? Sure, we work together which makes that easy but even if I go with you there are times where I cannot be right beside you. I can’t sit beside you during radio interviews or while you’re filming TV interviews. I can only stand where you can see me or where they tell me. What about when we have kids? Right now it’s very easy to say that I can stay up under your ass all the time but that’s not possible when we have kids. Think about how you felt Thursday Zac, do you really want to be on the other end of the phone if he has me plus our child?”

I hadn’t really thought that far ahead yet, but evidently her hours spent laying here had given her that chance.

She blinked back a few tears. “He’s already pissed off that I’m marrying you. If we have a child and he takes us both, he won’t hesitate to kill the child Zachary. That would be my punishment for allowing you to get me pregnant to begin with. I don’t know about you, but I don’t think I can get over that. To be the reason my child dies.”

I wiped her face off and kissed her forehead. “You shouldn’t think that way Emily; he won’t be around when we have kids. He won’t be a factor when we do.”

“You can’t guarantee me that. No one can.”

I sat back up. “I’m also not going to let some obsessive jackass run our lives for us.”

“I’m not going to let you walk away from the band and 3CG for me. I didn’t let you do that for me with Kate and I damn sure won’t now.”

I did kind of expect that response from her and I expected the same stone walled facial expression she had when she said it too.

Neither of us had even seen Isaac, Taylor, and Casey walk in the room until Casey spoke.

“Should we come back?”

“No, because there’s nothing else to say on the matter, it’s done.”

I looked at the three of them standing there and it was Isaac that walked over and sat down beside her on the bed. Reading the expression on his face kind of scared me because it was all serious.

“Actually there is something else that needs to be said on this subject because yes, we heard the whole conversation; we walked in when the detectives walked out. First off Adam is nothing more than a scared man who wants you and cannot accept the facts that you don’t want him. Second you should have told us about his apparently lifelong obsession and Zac this doesn’t exclude you because we needed to know about the severity of the messages before as well. Third, as far as radio goes, you can totally sit beside him and for interviews I’ll make damn sure you’re somewhere where he can see you and it won’t be the other side of the room and fourth..If and when the two of you have children, if Adam is still around and still being a pest then you don’t have to worry about being taken, Emily you will have that child’s father and two uncles there to make sure he or she isn’t harmed. What you need to worry about right this minute is getting better because 3CG is going to hell without its manager there.”

I feared she would be totally pissed off and send him right out of the room, I expected the explosion but it never came, instead she just kind of sat there looking at him confused and perplexed. It was clear, she hadn’t expected that from him anymore than I had.

“I understand Emily, your use to handling your problems alone. Your father hitting you, leaving home at 16, moving here, and even when you and Zac were first starting you may have talked to Craig and Amanda but for the most part, you handled that alone. You even dealt with Adam and Gary until you passed out in the office. Emily, you’re not alone anymore. Zac came as a packaged deal with six brothers and sisters and we don’t leave family to handle problems alone.”

Taylor walked over and stood behind Isaac. “He’s right. We weren’t raised to let one of our siblings, friends, or other family members handle things alone unless they truly need to. This isn’t something that you and Zac need to deal with on your own.”

“It’s not fair to put all of you in his path either.”

They smiled at us both. “Ems, he did that when he told Zac he was going to send pictures of you for the rest of his life, pictures of him breaking you and doing all those things he said.”

I had no way to stop him and I saw her face pale. “He was going to do what?”

Isaac looked at me. “You hadn’t told her about that message?”

She looked at me. “You get pissed at me for not telling you about George and yet you didn’t tell me that?”

“He sent the messages to me 15 minutes before you called me Wednesday night. Odds are he was standing in the room or in the house. He told me for being such a bastard he was going to show me what it took for him to get rid of your memories of me. He was going to send me pictures to make sure I never forgot you, while he was beating memories of me out of you.”

“You did tell the police right?”

“Yes. Craig has our phones and he submitted the messages that were there to the police before be tampered with the phones.”

“Well, my point was Adam made it our business then. Really Emily, think about it a moment if Zac is getting daily reminders that your being hurt and he can’t stop it, do you really think he would be spending much time writing, playing, drawing, or creating anything?”

She looked at me. “No. He wouldn’t be doing any of that.”

“Exactly. So whether he gives to 3CG for you, to keep you safe is irrelevant because if Adam takes you, 3CG is done. Our family would not only lose you, but Zac as well. I’m sorry, but that is not happening. Which is a part of the reason we are here, we needed Zac to sign something for us.”

“Me?”

“Your co-owner dude, you gotta sign things too.” Taylor said.

“For what?” I asked.

“CompTech Securities so they can overhaul our security system at the studio. Um, Craig said he would explain tomorrow when there completely done. There almost done now.”

“Ok…” I said.

Taylor handed me a stack of papers which I sat down and actually went over much to their annoyance.

“Last week I handed him a paper and he barely even glanced at it and signed it, this one? He’s reading every line!”  Taylor said.

“That paper was something I’d seen a dozen times, this isn’t.”

I was passing them to Emily as I finished so she could read them as well. I signed the last page giving my own consent for them to change out the alarms and rewire the network to prevent anything from occurring in the future, although I was very worried why it was necessary. The new updates would safe guard the studio though and that was important. Casey remained very quite through the whole process and when Taylor and Isaac left he went with them, giving us both hugs before leaving.

Aaron arrived back at the hospital a few minutes after they left with lunch for us both, although Emily didn’t much of it because he’s ordered a huge plate for her and she wasn’t eating a lot at once. When we finished I talked with her about going ahead and turning the albums in today.

“Albums? I thought you were keeping them.” Aaron said.

“The police asked what he did for two hours and he must have looked for them. Mentioning them meant turning them over, which is probably the right thing to do. Even if DNA proves its dad’s, it’s over 5 years.”

He didn’t say anything but when she agreed to let me leave, he did let me borrow his car. I first went to the bank and got the three albums and then turned them over to the two detectives that came in. Neither looked pleased when I told her where they come from and I even informed them of the potential for DNA. While I was out and Emily was safe with Aaron, at least she damn well better be. I decided to go to the house, she would need clothes and I needed clean ones also. I also needed to see what it looked like for myself.

I entered the house through the garage door and I could see drops of blood in the hallway, leading to the foyer. I could also see caulk outlines of bullet holes. There was blood smeared in the foyer as well. I kneeled down by the door and ran my fingers over the splintered wood, the bullet that nearly killed her.  I then turned and went to the kitchen, there were several outlines here and blood on the left side of the island, I kneeled and ran my fingers over the one in the cabinet, it was something she clearly remembered, getting up to move and seeing a bullet splinter through, shattering the lids to our pans inside. There were outlines where the drumstick and her ripped panties had been. I finally went up to our bedroom and looked around, Isaac wouldn’t notice if anything was missing from here. I went to the closet and went for the drawer where we kept our toys and found them all there and nothing missing.

“If I had two hours, what else would I go for if I were him?”

I went back to the dresser in the bedroom, her underwear drawer and pulled it open. Emily was a neat freak when it came to her panties and bras but the drawer was torn apart, which means he’d been in the room while she slept and he’d gone through this drawer.

I dumped the drawer out and did a quick scan counting pairs as I went. There were several missing from the drawer and three of her bras were missing. I considered the dirty clothes basket, but it was empty so she’d washed clothes that day. I didn’t like the idea that he’d touched everything in the drawer and I couldn’t be sure where his hands had touched on any of the ones laying on the floor in front of me.

“Zachary! Are you here?” Taylor called.

“Upstairs!” I called back.

He came up and paused at the door. “Did I interrupt?”

“Do you have your phone with you?”

“Yeah.” He got it and handed it to me. I called the hospital first.

“Hello?” Aaron asked.

“It’s Zac, let me speak to Emily.”

It was a few moments. “Hey.” She said.

“Did you get rid of any of your panties or bras?”

“No. Why?”

“Your drawer was a mess and at least seven pair are missing, you have three bras missing as well.”

“It wasn’t me…”

“Ok. I’ll let the detectives know.”

I hung-up and then called the detective and told them what was missing. Taylor watched me amused as I got a trash bag and put everything in there.

“Um…Zac what are you doing?”

I looked at him. “I will not let anything he’s touched come into contact with her. I’ll just buy her new ones.”

“You may want to ask her about that.”

“I won’t need too, she didn’t sound thrilled.”

“Why are you here Zac?”

“I had to see the place myself, in person. I also needed to get clothes for her to come home in or to wear there and I needed clean clothes as well.”

“You could have asked one of us.”

“Neither of you would have realized any of these were missing.”

“Truth.” He replied. 

I sat the trash bag by the door, I’d get rid of them when she got home, and we’d probably burn them. I checked all of her drawers and the rest were intact; I pulled some loose comfortable pajamas for her and got a few sports bras from the closet, where she kept them. I also managed to find a new pack of panties there which would do until I could get to the store. I said bye to Taylor again and he returned to the studio and I returned to the hospital.

“I brought you clothes.”

“Did you bring anything from that drawer?”

“No.”

“Good, it can all be burnt.”

“I bagged everything up and it’s waiting for you to do just that. I found a new pack in the closet and sports bras.”

Aaron shook his head but she smiled. She couldn’t get dressed until they removed the IV, which I was asking about when Zander made his rounds tonight. We settled in for the afternoon, we did the cafeteria for dinner; she finished her lunch plate for dinner and walked some late that afternoon. The abdomen wasn’t bothering her much, it was the thigh. She fell asleep pretty quickly, while we sat up a bit before attempting sleep ourselves.