Learning to Live Again (A Josh Ramsay Fan fiction)

Chapter Seventeen:

Josh POV:

‘This is not good, what happened to her, where the hell is security’ I thought to myself as I ran back to the main building.  “Guys, I think I need to call the cops!” 

“What are you talking about?” Ian asked. 

“Jordan’s purse is covered in pepper spray, her car door is open and she’s gone.  I think something bad happened to her.”  With that I pulled out my cell phone and dialed 9-1-1 and told them what was going on.  The dispatcher said that they would send someone over as soon as possible.  “Thanks, I will wait for them outside,” I hung up and headed back outside followed by everyone else.  Within a couple minutes, the Police arrived. 

 “Who is Josh Ramsay?” One of the officers asked. 

 “I am.” 

 “Alright, mind telling me what happened?” 

 I explained to him what I found and said that Jordan would not have just left without saying goodbye, or without her car and purse for that matter.  The officer asked me about Jordan, and all the information I could provide was what I knew about her from today.  As he was asking me questions, Mike had his hand on my shoulder trying to let me know that it was going to be ok.  I don’t know why, but I could not get the face of that guy she saw earlier today out of my mind.  Maybe it was seeing the little canister of pepper spray.  When we met, she looked so scared, but was trying her best to mask her fear.  I smiled at the thought of how tough she was trying to be, and chuckled at how paranoid she was, but now, knowing that something has happened to her, all I could hope for was that she was being strong and not showing fear.  ‘We will find you Jordan’ I told myself.  “There was this guy she saw earlier today, as part of her job, an interview for some kind of anger management program.  He approached us after I met her, big guy, scary looking.  I don’t know, maybe it was him?”  I told the officer. 

“Worth checking out,” he said, “but why do you think he has anything to do with this?” 

“Jordan told me that he was serving time for assaults against previous partners, and they way he looked at her... it was just... off.” 

“Were they in a relationship?”

“No, she said he was a client.  She was seeing him for a program, her job.  I think he’s on parole or something.”

“Alright, do you have a name or anything?” 

“All I know is his name is Mr. Smith, and I think he lives at a halfway house, Jordan called them for him outside her office.” 

“Well, there are a lot of halfway houses here; can you provide any other specifics?” 

“No...  Wait, she used her work phone, the number should still be in there.  It’s a blackberry in her purse... unless she has it with her.” 

The officer went to her purse and found the phone.  He made a call to someone, and headed back to where I was standing with everyone else.  “Well, good news; we have the phone, bad news; it’s locked.  I need to wait until I can get an override code to access the phone.” 

“FUCK, how long could that take?” I asked.  I was already worried about her; not knowing how long this could take made me think that she was in serious danger. 

“Shouldn’t take too long.  In the meantime, do you remember what he looks like?”  I nodded my head yes.  “Alright, not sure if this will work, but we will type his name in to my computer, with your description and see if we get a photo.”  I followed him to his patrol car as he started to search for Mr. Smith.  There were hundreds of Mr. Smith’s!  It felt like we were sitting there forever looking at mug shots, none of them matching the man that I saw earlier today. 

Mike, Ian, Matt and the girls were standing off to the side talking amongst themselves, and I waved them over.  “Look, I am not sure what is going on, but there is no use in you guys sticking around.  Go get something to eat; I will call you with any information.” 

“We aren’t gonna just leave you alone.” Mike said. 

“There is nothing that you can do, there is nothing that I can even fucking do!  If it makes you feel better, go grab something to eat and bring it back.  I will still be here.” 

“No, man, we aren’t leaving.” 

I really did not want them to stay; I could feel myself starting to lose control and did not want anyone I knew to see me break down.  I don’t know if they are going to find her, and if they do.... ‘No Josh, don’t think like that, you are not going to lose her, not like this.  She is strong, and she won’t go down without a fight’.  With that thought, I was able to compose myself for a bit longer.  Mike was giving me a worried look, so I broke the silence and said “Fine, stay.” 

I heard a phone ring; the officer answered it and hung up quickly “alright”, he said, “we are in her phone.”  He scrolled to the call logs and found the last number that was called.  “Is this it? 1-416-425-3929?” He asked. 

“I’m not sure... but then I remembered Mr. Smith said something about the number ‘it actually spells HALFWAY’ just in case anyone could forget!’  Does the number spell HALFWAY?” I asked. 

“Let’s see” the officer looked at the numbers in comparison to their matching letters, and said “looks like it.” 

“That’s the number she called.  She spoke to someone there too, so it has to be where he is living!” 

“Alright, let’s check it out; at least it is something to go on.”  With that, the officer called the number and spoke to someone about Mr. Smith.  He was able to get his full name as well as other details I wasn’t able to provide.  When he was done speaking with the person on the other end, “Well, he is not there now, and is suppose to be so the house will be calling his Parole Officer in order to issue a warrant, so we can at least arrest him on that.  Let’s type this info in to the computer and see if it is the man you remember from earlier.”  As he typed in the new information, Mr. Smith’s mug shot popped up, and I recognized him immediately.  A smug smirk, teardrop tattoo, looking like he wanted to take a good picture for his crime portrait.  ‘That’s the asshole that took Jordan.  He is going to fucking pay,’ I thought to myself. 

 “That’s him!” I said staring down the photo.  I could feel my hands starting to clench, I was getting angry and if they let me, I would gladly beat the shit out of this man who took Jordan away from me.