The Forgotten Night (22 page)

“Your second mistake was delivering the note while I was at their house. And your third mistake? That was calling me while I was with Andrew. They are tracing the phone number, they’re going to figure out it was you and then they’re going to come for me and you will rot in prison just like your brother.”

Brian raised his hand and slapped her hard across the cheek. “Well, lucky me, because by the time they realize it is me, you will be dead and I…I will have run off. Believe me, I have enough money withdrawn from the bank to last. No one will catch me.”

Cassidy’s throat tightened and tears welled in her eyes as she suddenly realized what was about to happen. “Please.”

“Shut up! Begging won’t help you now,” he said, picking up a needle that was set on a nearby table.

Cassidy watched as he filled the syringe with a clear liquid. “Please don’t…” she cried. “My baby,” she breathed. “Please…”

Brian turned around, setting the needle down. “Baby?”

Tears continued to roll down her cheeks, but she nodded in confirmation.

Brian yelled in frustration, knocking over the table with the needle and drugs.

Cassidy flinched.

“You’re having his baby?” he asked again, but she made no attempt to respond. Soft deep laughter erupted from Brian and Cassidy cringed at the malicious tone in his laughter. “It just keeps getting better and better.”

Cassidy shook her head. “No, please…just...”

“Do you want me to shut you up? Because I can.”

Cassidy shook her head silently.

“If you ask me, you already have lost your baby. Chloroform can cause miscarriages when you’re exposed to it at high levels. And you,” he laughed again, “let’s just say I didn’t spare anything when it came to you.” He hit his fist hard on her stomach. “If the chloroform didn’t do the trick, than hopefully that certainly did.”

“You will pay for this!” Cassidy screamed. “Even if you do kill me, he will never stop until you are dead too.”

“Your big tough fiancé won’t survive the pain, he’s already lost his baby. He’s going to lose you too. He has nothing left.”

“Go to hell.”

“Oh, I’m going to enjoy my time with you. We might even have a little fun first.”

“What, so you can finally say that you had me? You are a fucking loser, just like your brother. You’ll get what you deserve.”

Brian looked down at her and without another word turned around and went up the stairs. The lights turned off and she heard the door slam and the sound of several locks being turned.

Cassidy closed her eyes and let her tears flow freely. Her baby.
No, our baby
. She cried until tears no longer came and wondered how this nightmare would end. She heard what she assumed was the front door open and slam shut and soon after heard a car start up and pull away. Was he gone? When would he come back? How was she going to get out of this alive?

* * *

“Detectives?” Andrew asked, opening the front door of the Ames’ house. Everyone had gathered there to wait to hear any news from the police.

“Andrew, we just wanted to ask you a few more questions,” Detective Coulter said as she entered.

It had already been several hours and the sun had already begun to set. Andrew led the two detectives into the living room where everyone was waiting. “Did anyone know about the family connection between Robert Stokes and Brian Fisher?”

“Family connection? What are you talking about?” Rachel asked and the others shook their head.

“Mr. Fisher and Mr. Stokes are half-brothers,” Detective Rice said.

“So you think it really is Brian,” Andrew said, fury rising within him.

“We’re looking at every possibility, but it seems right now that is our best lead. We don’t have any conclusive evidence that could issue us a warrant, but it’s a start.”

“What else are you doing?” Andrew asked. “You have to find her, she’s out there. You can’t just do nothing. You can’t speculate, you have to save her. Can’t you question him or something?”

“We are doing everything we can, but if we move in too soon without our warrant—if he is the one who has Cassidy—he could hurt her.”

“You don’t think he’s trying to do that right now? It’s not like he just kidnapped her to have lunch! He fucking kidnapped her to kill her! I just know it. She could lose the baby and all you’re doing is talking about what to do!”

Rachel was by his side and pulled him into a hug. She knew he was just scared, hell she was scared too. Her best friend and future niece or nephew was in danger.

“Did he just say baby?” Edward asked.

Andrew pulled away and looked around at everyone. “This isn’t how we wanted to tell you. We only just found out ourselves. She’s pregnant, about eleven weeks. We were going to her first doctor’s appointment,” he laughed bitterly.

Edward walked toward Andrew and drew him in a fatherly hug. “It’s okay, son. We’ll find her. She’s going to be okay.” Andrew nodded just as Edward’s phone began to ring. He pulled out his phone. “It’s my tech guy. Hello? Yeah...okay…all right, fax it over…thanks, Mike.”

“Did he figure it out?” Andrew asked.

“The number belongs to Brian, it’s a private second landline in his house, unlisted. Mike’s faxing the information over right now,” he said then turned to go get the papers from his office.

“Is that enough evidence?” Andrew asked the detectives.

“Hold on, I’m making a few calls,” Detective Coulter said and stepped off to the side and proceeded to talk into her phone. “It’s good, we got the warrant,” she said, after hanging up the phone. “Everyone’s meeting us at the house. We have to go.”

“I’m coming too,” Andrew said and the others stood up in agreement.

“I can’t have you come in. I’ll permit you to be behind the police perimeter, though,” she said. “Come on, let’s go,” she said to Detective Rice after taking the fax from Mr. Ames.

Chapter Fifteen

A
ndrew pulled up at Brian’s house a few minutes after Detectives Rice and Coulter. He stepped out of his car, only to see a police perimeter already set up, police cars littered the area with an ambulance nearby as well. They’d wasted no time and for that he was grateful.

“Andrew, you’re going to have to stay behind the perimeter,” Detective Coulter informed him once again.

He nodded. “You’ll tell me as soon as you find out something about her, right?” he asked.

“You can stay with Officer Daniels, he has a radio. I’ll let you know, okay?”

Andrew only nodded again and watched as she went back to the other officers and began to bark out orders. It was only a matter of seconds before he saw them surround the house and enter. Rachel and both their parents and Cassidy’s followed.

“Do they know anything?” Rachel asked.

“No, they’ll let us know, though,” he said.

“It’s going to be okay, Drew,” she said, holding onto his arm.

Andrew only gave her a small smile and waited to hear any news.

* * *

Cassidy heard the noise outside, but refused to get her hopes up. She was too scared that it was all a dream, scared that she had made it all up, that it was a figment of her imagination. She heard the ruckus upstairs and footsteps all around and shouts and yet she still wasn’t convinced that they were real. She heard the locks click on the basement door and closed her eyes as the lights turned on, but still she could only pray it wasn’t him, that it was actually someone there to rescue her.

“She’s down here!” she heard faintly. “Cassidy, you’re all right. It’s Detective Coulter. You’re going to be okay,” she said softly.

She felt the bonds being cut and slowly she opened her eyes and looked up at the woman’s familiar face.

Her throat tightened, but no tears came. When she was fully free, she swung her arms around the woman. “Thank you,” she whispered. “Thank you.”

“Are you all right? He didn’t hurt you in any way? No wounds, nothing that requires a medic to be brought down here?” she asked when Cassidy pulled away.

Cassidy only shook her head, unsure she could talk yet.

“Well, then I think there are some pretty anxious people waiting to see you, one in particular.”

Cassidy smiled slightly, but she didn’t look her in the eye. Cassidy stepped off the bed and Detective Coulter walked beside her as they went up the stairs. It was dark outside when she left the house, but it didn’t take her long to locate Andrew in the crowd. She heard Detective Coulter say something into her police radio but didn’t catch what it was. She only saw the police letting Andrew through the barriers.

He ran toward her and she did nothing but wait for him. She threw her arms around him and buried her face in his neck, taking in his sent.

“Baby, you had me so scared. I was afraid something happened to you.”

Cassidy pulled back and put her hand to his lips to silence him. “I knew you would find me. I knew you would come. I was scared, even more than before,” she remarked.

Andrew held her tight again and kissed the top of her head. “I love you, Cassie, so much.”

“I love you too.” She pulled away and looked him in the eyes before kissing him with all the love she felt. She pulled away and clung to him afraid to let go, afraid it would all be a dream.

“I’m just glad nothing happened to you or the baby,” he said.

Cassidy’s throat tightened.

Andrew looked down at her and noticed the shadow of doubt that was cast over her face, “What is it? Is it the baby?” he asked, genuinely scared.

She had never heard the fear in his voice so pronounced until that moment.

“I don’t know,” she managed to say, tears falling down her cheeks.

Andrew wasted no time in trying to receive an explanation, just picked her up in his arms and rushed her to the ambulance that was waiting nearby. He laid her on one of the gurneys and the medics fussed over her.

“The baby, you have to check the baby,” he breathed. They pushed the gurney into the ambulance to offer more privacy. They had come prepared, knowing that she was pregnant.

Andrew stepped into the small enclosed space and sat next to her and watched as one of the medics poured a clear gel onto her exposed abdomen. Cassidy gripped his hand tightly and waited.

“Have you felt any pain in your lower abdomen?” the medic asked as she manipulated with a machine.

“No, but he exposed me to chloroform. He said it can cause miscarriages. Is that true?” she asked, tears falling down her cheeks.

“In some cases. yes, when exposed to it at high levels. Was it one exposure or multiple times?”

“Just once,” she said, still holding onto Andrew’s hand. “He also hit me pretty hard…”

“Since then, you haven’t felt any pain, though, correct?”

Cassidy only nodded in confirmation.

By this time Rachel had walked up. “Is everything okay? You scared the hell out of all of us. I had to convince our parents not to kill the officers to try to get over here. What’s wrong? You rushed over here so fast.”

“The baby,” Andrew said simply.

“Oh.” Rachel obviously didn’t know what else to say.

“Tell my parents I’m all right, I’m just getting checked up,” Cassidy said.

“Okay,” Rachel agreed.

Andrew stroked her cheek. “I’m right here, baby. Whatever happens, we’ll get through this together.”

She nodded again and turned to watch as the medic began to examine her.

“Have you had an ultrasound before?” the medic asked.

“No, we only just went to our first appointment this morning. Is anything wrong?”

“As far as I can tell, nothing. I’m trying to get a reading on the heart, you are eleven weeks, correct?”

“Yes.”

She nodded and turned back to the machine and turned up the dial so Andrew and Cassidy could hear the “whooshing” noises as she tried to look for a heartbeat. Cassidy’s hand tightened over Andrew’s after a few seconds, why couldn’t she find the heart beat? What was taking so long?

“Why can’t we hear the heartbeat?” she finally asked.

“Just wait for it…ah, here,” the medic said and waited for them to hear it.

Andrew strained his ears and listened carefully. A smile grew on his face as he heard the soft “thump thump” of the baby’s heart. “Do you hear that?” He smiled down at Cassidy.

“Yes.” She smiled back. “That’s our baby.”

Andrew knelt down and kissed her forehead. “I knew it would be okay.”

“I love you, Andy.”

“I love you too, Cassie,” he said, resting his forehead on hers.

“Huh, that’s strange,” the medic said.

Andrew pulled away, looking alarmed. “What? Is the baby okay?”

“No, that baby is fine…but I thought I heard…”

“What’s wrong?” Cassidy asked.

The woman looked at the couple and saw the fear in their eyes. “There’s nothing wrong,” she said with a smile. “Listen, and tell me what you hear.” She turned up the sound a little louder and Cassidy and Andrew listened.

“It’s the baby’s heart beating,” Cassidy said, confused.

“Your baby’s heart is beating at about 115 beats per minute. Listen to the pattern,” she said. “Keeping that in mind, now listen,” she said, moving across Cassidy’s abdomen. “Do you hear the pattern?” she said after a few seconds. She looked up from her watch. “That heart is beating at about 122 beats per minute.”