Beautifully Insane

Chapter Nineteen

Mitch

    I stared at the smartphone baffled. I didn't know what to think. Paige wasn't making any since. I closed my eyes to concentrate and replay the strange conversation with Paige in my head: I need you to locate Mitch Wright for me, the man you brought to Angelwood Asylum so we can turn ourselves in together...Please call back when you have set up a location for me to meet up.
I put my head in my hands. Is Paige trying to tell me to risk getting sent back to Angelwood in order to make contact with Officer Daly? No, she wouldn't unless... My thought drifted off. That is when it all clicked. "That son of a bitch," I muttered. I hurriedly put my shoes on and a jacket on my torso. I stormed out of my bedroom door heading to the staircase. I had to get to the police station as soon as possible.
"Mr. Wright?" Glen called after me, sounding concerned.
I faintly heard my father call my name as my ears were occupied by my mind acting like a one-way street as I swiftly made my way down the stairs. "Mitch!" Dad shouted my name. "Where do you think you're going?"
I stopped midway on the staircase. I looked up in back of me to give him a deadly stare. I rushed over to my father. I curled my hand into a tight fist and clouded his jaw. I took Dad by the collar of his shirt and shoved him against the wall behind him. "You naive, self-centered, heedless prick told me that she will be fine and that she will call, but guess where Paige is you son of a bitch, she is with Jackson!"
"Mitch," Glen whispered my name in a soothingly voice as he pulled me off of my father.
I nodded in Glen's direction as a way to say 'thank you' as I straightened out my jacket. "I'm going to get her back, with or without your help," I harshly confessed to him.
Dad reached into his pocket and pulled out car keys. "Mitch, I'm sorry," he apologized, holding them out.
I wanted to scream and yell at him that this wouldn't have happened if Paige were to stay here, but it wasn't the time and what's done is done. The more Paige was with Jackson, the more she could be tortured. I grabbed the keys from Dad and hastily left the mansion to get into a vehicle.
     The damage I caused to the bridge slowed me down, but this direction was the fastest way to the police station. My palms started to become sweaty from gripping the steering wheel tightly. My heart raced faster than it could beat. How was I going to ask a man of the law for help? Maybe the risk wasn't as big as I thought. If Officer Daly agrees to help, we will somehow track down where Paige is being kept, get her and hopefully Jackson goes to jail, making my father and I the biggest market of smuggling and selling guns, I planned for the aftermath of all the chaos. If I do end up going back to Angelwood, I wouldn't mind how long I would have to stay as long as Paige was at my side. I gradually placed pressure on the brake petal while the traffic light switched from green to red. No matter how much I wanted to drive through, I knew if I got pulled over, it would only take me longer to save Paige. I hit the steering wheel as seconds turned to minutes, waiting for the light to turn green. "I have no time for this!" I shouted.
After the light turned green, I speedily took off as I only had two more blocks to get through before I reached the police station.
    I took a deep breath before walking into the police station, unknowing what to expect when I stepped foot inside. I opened the door and searched for Officer Daly. There were rows of desks with computers and phones onto facing an office labeled sheriff. I saw a man that looked a lot like the officer who brought me to the asylum. Taking a step forward, I heard the sound of a hundred being aimed at me. "Don't move," a rough, womanly voice spoke.
"Hands up," a heavy set man ordered with his gun aimed to my temple.
I placed my hands behind my head. "I'm here to speak with Officer Daly. Officer Daly!" I projected my voice, forgetting get what the man looked like.
The heavy set police officer took the handle of the gun and struck me on the bottom of my sternum. I winced, bending down to one knee while getting the wind knocked out of me. "Shut up!"
The man I believed is Officer Daly walked over, backing the male police officer away from me. "Why do you need to talk to me?"
"It's Paige," I answered wheezing, trying to catch my breath, "a man named Jackson has her."
Daly's eyes widened, taken back slightly, "You don't mean Jackson Conroy, do you?"
I nodded, "I do."
Daly took my elbow and helped me onto my feet. "I got him," Daly insisted the police officers. Daly placed me in a chair beside his desk. I rubbed underneath my sternum as I was soon able to breathe properly. "Would you like water or anything?"
I shook my head to politely decline.
Daly sat at the edge of his desk. "Why would Jackson Conroy want anything to do with an eighteen-year-old girl?"
"Paige is seventeen," I corrected him.
Daly shook his head, "Not today."
Knowing it was Paige's birthday today made me feel ten times worse, made me want beat the daylights out of my father. I sat forward a little. "You see the Conroys' and my family have a feud that is still on going after fifty years," I started with a fib to protect what my father and I really do. Then, I filled Daly in on the two minute conversation I had with Paige moments ago and what I got out of it. I pulled my phone from the front, right pocket of my dark jeans. I unlocked it and handed Daly over my phone with the call log open. "I think Jackson used his phone to make the call."
"Jackson isn't that dumb. He most likely has more than one phone. You said he wants me to bring you to him?"
"It's possible that he wants to make a trade, me for Paige?"
Daly nodded as our minds must have thought similar things. "It's guess we won't keep them waiting," Daly responded as he picked up the phone on his desk.
"What are you doing?" I asked.
Daly said 'thank you' over the phone before putting it down on the hook. He looked over at me, "We are going to make Jackson think we are making the trade. "Let's go."
Daly and I hastily exited the police station and got inside of a silver Chevrolet Cruze.
     In the car, I kept worrying about if I was ever going to see Paige again. I hoped that she was doing better than I thought, I was thinking the worse like I have a habit of doing. I knew Paige is tough and she could hold her own, but you can only break something so much until it shatters. I spotted Daly glancing over in my direction. He held out his hand, "May I see you phone again?" Daly asked.
I brought the phone into sight and unlocked it before doing what he had asked. "Are you going to call him?"
"Is this the number?" Daly asked hovering his thumb over the seven digits at the very top.
After nodding, Daly pressed the button and put the phone to ear.
I heard Daly breath uneasy as he pulled the car over. "Are you alright?" Daly asked while his voice sounded controlled.
There was a pause. I couldn't tell what Paige was saying.
"Hold on a little while longer. Mitch and I are coming to get you. Put Jackson on the phone," Daly kindly told her.
My hands clenched into a tight fist when I heard Jackson's voice coming from the other side of the call.
"You're correct. It's just Mitch and me. See you shortly," Daly spoke into the phone before ending the call. Daly shook his head as he put the car back on the road, "I swear if he touched one hair on Paige's head, I'm going to make him feel like he wished he'd never been born."
I beamed slightly. It always amused me when cops would get mad, but at least if ended up killing Jackson, it won't be seen as committing a sin.