Realise - Real Lies

Where are you?

Check it out here as well: https://jaderoxx30892.wixsite.com/reallies/post/chapter-3-where-are-you

Jade's POV

I blinked rapidly staring at the car that I was in a few days back. "What the hell?" Johnson exclaimed. The woman shrugged, "It seems like it was torched at least 3 days ago." "That's around the time we were on a road trip," I said. "Well luckily it wasn't completely torched. The fire just died out. Some things just are slightly burnt," the woman said. I looked inside the car. I could see what remained of our backpacks and other things. "What about the trunk?" Johnson asked. "I didn't check. I didn't want to spoil my day," she said nervously. Johnson walked towards the back of the car, "Get me your crowbar."
The woman walked away nodding her head. "Wait you are going to open it? Shouldn't the cops do this?" I asked. "Well we could wait a few hours for them to come here and not tell us anything for days or we could do it ourselves," he said. "Since when have you become the lawbreaker?" I asked slyly. He gave me a weird look, "Ever since the shady stuff you have been involved with, I don't think going by the law is really the way to go. Look let me frank with you, I don't know how long I can deal with this. Your relationship with Richy, the whole Duskwood shenanigan, your secretive behavior and all that. It almost seems like you are turning into a rebellious teenager. And I really thought it was all over after the Hannah incident, but it feels like you are hiding something from me. And honestly I am done helping you Jade. I can't keep doing stuff if you keep lying to me."
I gulped, "Johnson you have been really helpful and I really appreciate what you have done for me.." "Just not enough to tell me the truth. Jade I don't expect you to tell me everything but if you can't tell me everything then I don't want to help you. Whatever you are doing may seem right to you but I don't want to do something that I regret. This is it. I can be your friend and your support but I can't be your lawyer. Once we get what we need from this car we are done. I hope you understand " he said. I nodded. He was right. He had gone above and beyond to help me blindly. It hurt. It hurt a lot. I had managed to alienate the one person I had by my side for years. Just then the woman returned with the crowbar. Johnson worked on prying the trunk open while I looked around inside the car. A thing caught my eye. It looked like a phone. But it wasn't mine, neither was it Richy's. It looked like it was a disposable phone. But it was burnt too. I snuck it into my pocket. I didn't want to point it out in front of the woman. I would tell Johnson about it later.
Johnson was able to successfully pry open the trunk. Both him and the woman stared into it. Johnson looked at me, "You need to see this." I walked over towards the trunk. There in the trunk was a gun, all of Richy's clothes and his IDs. But that wasn't even the worst part. There, amidst all of it, was Richy's white shirt, caked in blood. I felt sick. My knees buckled and I fell to the ground. Johnson dragged me away from the car, "Was that his shirt?" I nodded, "He was wearing it. On the day of the road trip." Johnson didn't say anything. "So what do you want to do?" the woman asked. "Call the cops. I guess they now have probable cause," Johnson said.
The cops arrived within a few minutes. After a round of questioning, they let us go, warning that they should have been informed before doing anything. Plus they said they would call me in for questioning soon. Even after our earlier conversation, Johnson stood by as my lawyer saying that I would be cooperative as long as he was informed in advance. The tension between the cops and Johnson was pretty evident as they were mostly on opposite sides. Half an hour later, Johnson and I were on our way back. "Jade, I don't think you should stay alone tonight." I shook my head. I hadn't stopped sobbing ever since we had discovered the bloody shirt. Up until now, I felt that Richy was in trouble but him being hurt or worse was something I wasn't prepared for. "Do you remember him being injured when you were on your way to the trip?" Johnson asked. I shook my head, "No he was perfectly fine. He is perfectly fine. I need him to be perfectly fine." I was on the verge of a panic attack. My sobs continued as Johnson stopped in front of my house. I got out and was surprised to see Phil and Jessy standing in front of my house.
Jessy hugged me, "We wanted to see if you were fine." I didn't know if they knew about what we had found out recently. Phil hugged me too. Johnson looked at us and shrugged, "Well I think I will leave you guys to it then. Jade I will update you on any developments." "Wait. Are you going to tell Richy's parents?" I asked. "The police have already done that. Don't worry about it. Get some rest," he said as he got back into the car and drove off. I opened the door and Phil and Jessy got inside. "What happened?" Phil asked. I briefly told them what was discovered. And I started sobbing again. Jessy fetched me a glass of water. I sipped on it. "This is so weird. First Luke. And now God knows who is behind all this?" Jessy muttered. I had thought of it. This was too much of a coincidence to be a random incident. But the question remained. Who would do this? What was the plan? How did Richy fit into this? Someone kidnapped me and took me across the border and left me. But they kept Richy? Why? I couldn't bring myself to think of the alternative. Seeing the bloody shirt, there was one conclusion that could be drawn. What if they had ..? No I couldn't think that way. But why?
"Well honestly I have feeling that Luke has something to do with it," Phil said. "Luke's dead," I said. "Yes but his father is still alive and plus he was the chief, so maybe he wanted revenge?" Phil said. While that could be possible, there was also another unknown enemy that they did not know about. Jake's mentor. Could he have done this? But I still couldn't fathom why he would do this? To get back at Jake? Oh how I wish I could contact Jake. I hadn't received any texts from him. Perhaps he would think that something is off and contact me through some other medium? I hope he did. Jake would definitely be able to help find Richy. "Jade?" Jessy asked. I blinked looking at her, "Yes?" "You look exhausted. Maybe you should take some rest. I hope you don't mind us staying?" She asked. "Of course not. There is a guest room down the hall and another spare bedroom upstairs." The guest room was used by Richy. It was close to the study and it worked well when he had to leave for work early. Jake used the spare bedroom upstairs which was right opposite mine. Initially he did use the spare bedroom, but then eventually he did stay in mine. He used the spare bedroom only when he was working. I recalled memories of Jake and Richy's constant bickering at the breakfast counter. They would always be arguing about something or the other. But then it was always a friendly banter. On the weekends when Jake was here, he and Richy would work on his car. His car that was charred right now. Richy loved that car. I think it was because he had worked on it with his own hands.
I remembered one evening after work when I couldn't find neither Richy nor Jake anywhere in the house. I finally heard some laughter emanating from the garage. Richy and Jake were seated on the floor drinking beer. An odd choice as they would normally drink scotch. Jake looked at me and beamed, "Hey. Didn't realize you were back? How was your day?" "Same as usual. What's funny?" I asked. "Oh nothing. Something about Richy's workplace," he said. "It wasn't that funny. A guy came in today in a hot pink Mercedes. I really thought the guy got his girlfriend or wife's car but turns out it was his. Apparently his wife caught him cheating and she spray painted all of his cars hot pink." "Richy's right. It isn't that funny," I said rolling my eyes at Jake. "Not even if his wife had pink hair, wore stilettos and a miniskirt?" Jake asked. "Oh," I said remembering the mention of the exact same thing a few months ago.  Richy looked at me and then at Jake, "Is this an inside joke?" Jake composed himself and told him the real reason behind his laughter. Richy roared hearing it as well, "Well that would have been impressive. Damn Jade why didn't you wear that and meet me?" "You would have to ask Jake that. Wow looks like you guys are almost done with the car," I exclaimed. "Yup almost. Jake really helped," Richy said. "Well if you want to thank me then all I need is keys to the car for one evening," Jake said. Richy scoffed, "You think I am going to give you the keys to my car just because you tightened a few screws? No fucking way. This car is my life and I will guard it with my life. No one else is allowed to drive it but me." Jake looked at me, "Someone is getting territorial." "Don't feel bad Jake, he said he isn't giving it to me either," I smirked. Richy rolled his eyes, "What did I say? My car my rules. No touching. Is that clear?" Jake raised his hands, "Crystal."