Duskwood: the man behind the mask

13. Back to the past

It was already quite late when we heard the car park in front of the house. Gabe gestured for me to stay where I was and cautiously leaned out the window. He watched for a moment and then sighed in relief, turning to me with a reassuring smile. It was them, finally!

Without waiting another second, I ran out onto the porch, feeling overwhelmed with joy to see Jessy and Jake appear, safe and sound. I ran toward them, but stopped halfway in surprise: Jessy had slammed the door and was walking quickly toward the house. She walked past me without even looking at me, heading straight inside.

Jake was behind, walking more slowly, and when he was next to me he greeted me tiredly, asking me to follow him.

MC: Jake, what's going on?

Jake: Right now I'll tell you everything, let's go inside.

Once inside, I saw with concern that Jessy had locked herself in her room. Jake flopped onto the couch and Gabe and I sat across from him to listen to the story. He quickly told us what had happened, and ended by saying that Jessy wanted to bring Phil into the house.

Gabe: Bring him here? I don't think he's in any real danger.

Jake: Me neither, but Jessica didn't want to hear anything about it. The worst part is that she told him where we are.

Gabe: What?

Jake shrugged resignedly. It was obvious that he was still upset about that, but he had no choice but to accept it.

MC: But Phil is not here, what happened?

Jake: He refused to come.

MC: Is that why Jessy is so upset?

Jake: Because of that and because I didn't want her to bring him here either.

It was easy to imagine then what had happened. They must have argued a lot, Jessy is not one to be easily convinced when she is sure of something. However, I understood that she was angry, Phil was very important to her and she was probably scared to death that something bad would happen to him if she left him alone.

MC: Jake, why don't you want Phil to come?

Jake: We still don't know who's behind this, we can't take any more chances. Phillip may be helping the culprit, or the culprit may be using Phillip without his knowledge. In any case it is dangerous, that mark was not made in vain.

That last sentence made me realize something, making me fully understand Jessy.

MC: I'm sorry, but I think you should have given it more thought before leaving Phil there.

He looked at me carefully.

MC: You have said it: that mark was not made in vain. Haven't you stopped to think that if the kidnapper is using Phil to lure us in, he can do worse when he sees that today didn't work?

He lowered his head thoughtfully, I realized that he didn't like this new option at all.

Gabe: MC, Phil is not that guy's target.

MC: I know, but if he wasn't in danger before, he may be now. If the kidnapper used him to get our attention, he will do it again, perhaps attacking him for real.

Gabe: What if he's helping him?

MC: It wouldn't make any difference, because Phil already knows where we are. In either case, having him here would be best.