Mistakes of our past | Rhekker

Chapter 73- Gone

Connor made it back around 4am, he killed his headlights as he pulled into the house. Connor took his shoes off before he entered the house, going straight upstairs, immediately wanting to be in his sunshine's arms. Connor tiptoed upstairs, gently pushing the door opening, waiting to see his sleeping girl; Only to find the bed empty.

"Avery?" He whispered, entering their bedroom further he saw the bathroom door was open and the lights were off. A whimper came from down the hall and Connor went to investigate. Connor found the egg chair in Amelia's room empty, his daughter crying softly in her cot, like she'd been doing it for hours.
"Oh princess, shhh, shhh. It's okey" he scooped her into his arms, holding her against his chest.
"Where Mumma huh?" He rocked her, walking around her room.
Connor exited the nursery and walked down the hall to his bedroom again, looking for any sign of where Ava could have gone.

Flicking on the lights in the room his finally noticed the differences in the room. The sheets were a mess and the bedside lap had been knocked over, taking Ava's glass of water with it.
Connors heart sank, not evening thinking as he pulled out his phone.

"Hey, yeah. It's me. I think you need to come down here" he whispered.

*

"You called in the uniforms?" Voight scoffed as he walked up the driveway.
"My fiancé's missing, what was a I meant to do?" Connor bounced Amelia.
"Wait for me"
"Mr. Rhodes" an officer called him.
"Is it possible that your partner may have gone out for something or left for a drive?"
"My fiancé had a c-section just over two weeks, she's struggling to walk down stairs and can't drive for another month. And your seriously think she got up in the middle of the night and drove off, leaving her two children alone?"
The officer shrugged, "people snap"
"Get out of here before I snap you" Hank growled at the officer.

Once they'd cleared out Hank made his way into the house.
"So walk me through exactly what happened" Hank looked around the house.
"I was called into surgery, I left Ava, she said she'd be okey. Did the surgery, came back, went upstairs and she wasn't in bed. Amelia was crying so I went to check on her and when I went back to the bedroom I noticed the lamp and the glass"
"And nothing seemed out of the norm?" Hank walked up stairs, surveying the walls.
"No, not until I realised she was gone"
"I never should have left her alone" he muttered, shaking his head.
"Hey, hey. We don't know if anything's even happened, so don't go there" Hank turned to face him on the stairs.

Hank walked into the bedroom, studying the scene before him. Hank pulled on a pair of gloves before getting closer.
"You notice this blood when you came in?" Hank asked, gesturing to the little puddle on the sheets and the drops along the flood.
"Uh no, not till now. What if she started bleeding and tried to drive to the hospital?" Connor panicked.

Hank looked around, before his eyes landed on what he wanted.
"So she's bleeding out and instead of calling an ambo, throws her phone across the room" he nodded to the little device on the floor.
Hank returned to the bed, picking up Ava's pillow.
"Dose Ava often wear perfume?"
"Eh, yeah. She dose"
Hank held out the pillow, "is that it?"
Connor sniffed the fabric, crinkling his nose.
"No, nothing that sweet. She wears lilac"
Hank nodded his head sadly.
"Well what is it?" Connor asked impatiently.
"Chloroform" Hank said shortly.

Connor stared blankly at him until Amelia started crying into his chest again.
"She wants a feed" Connor sighed.
"Look Connor I'm going to get the team over here and have a look around. She's family so this is personal" he put a hand on Connors shoulder.
Connor and Hank make their way back down the hall.
"Where's Sophia?" Hank asked at the top of the stairs.
"She's still asleep"
"You had two officers, a police car and me come through this house and she didn't wake up?" Hank found that very suspicious.
Walking to Sophia's room he pushed to door open.
"Beds empty, and cold"

*

"Connor, Connor!" So one shouts, shaking his shoulder.
"What, oh, yeah" Connor blinked, focusing on Jays face.
Jay took Amelia from his arms and handed her to Hailey. Hailey sat down and coxed Amelia into taking a bottle.
"Do you have anything?" Connor asked horsely, running a hand through his hair. He'd been up nearly 30 hours.
"No, we're sill looking, making some calls"
"Hey, I have the-" Kim walked in, spotting Connor.
"Oh sorry"
"No, what is it. What do you have?"
"Security camera footage from the driveway" Kim said.
"Show me" Connor shot out of his chair, leaving Amelia to feed with Haliey.
Connor came into the kitchen where all the detectives were stood around the counter.
"Connor we haven't seen this yet, we don't even know if there's anything good on it" Hank warned him.
"Show me" Connor said sternly.
Hank sighed and hit the play button.

The video showed Connor leaving the house and getting into his Porsche. Hours passed and just when they were losing hope the gate at the front of the house opened. A figure slipped into the driveway and walked towards the house. They lost sight of them for about forty minutes before the garage opened and the family's SUV pulled out.

"Can we see who's driving?" Hank asked Kevin who shook his head.
"Only one occupant in the car, cant make an id" he whispered back to him.
Connor ran his hands anxiously through his hair, running out of the kitchen. Jay followed him and Adam went outside to have a smoke while Jay went after Connor.
Connor leaned against the wall of the living room, sipping a small amount of whisky from a glass.
"Hey" jay joined him against the wall.
"How many of them have you had"
"This is my first" Connor finished off is drink.
"How many are you planning on having?"
Connor stayed silent and gazed down at the bottom of his glass.
"I can't do this without her" he cried, his shoulders sagging.
Jay wrapped an arm around him, hugging his close.

"I got something!"