It Feels Like Forever || auston matthews

Chapter Five

Three officers, Riley's brother, sister, parents, and now her three best friends and boyfriend. This was serious, and as the four walked in, the could feel the tension in the room. 

"So, we've called you all here because we got delivered something this afternoon that has something to do with Riley." One of the officers started. 

"We were leaving and found this note taped to the front door of the building." Another officer added, holding up a black folded paper. He unfolded it and started reading again, "She's alive. I don't want money, so don't even try it. I want her, and I need her. She will be mine, and Matthews can't do anything about it, none of you can. I know Marner, I know what he thinks he knows about me. He doesn't know anything." The officer paused, and the female officer took the paper and started reading.

"None of you really know what I'm capable of, and I will get what I want, I want her all to myself." She finished folding up the note and placing it on the table, everyone was surrounding. 

"Can I see that?" Riley's dad asked, biting his lip and reaching his hand out. The female officer handed him the note, as he examined it carefully. Tracing his fingers over the silver pen ink, breathing in slowly and shakily. Riley's dad passed the paper to Auston, knowing he was going to want to see it too. 

Auston read over the paper, doing the same as her dad. Breathing in slowly and shakily, but instead he was also running a hand through his hair. Mitch was reading over Auston's shoulder.

"That's not Caleb's hand writing, he had someone write this." Mitch said. Mitch had been to school with Caleb for years, he recognized how he wrote, and that wasn't it. Mitch grabbed the note out of Auston's hand and threw it down onto the table. "That's not him." 

"Don't you guys have video camera's outside the building to catch stuff like this?" Riley's brother, Brandon, asked. The rest of the crew nodding. 

"We checked this morning. The person who taped the note on the door was wearing all black, with a hood, and we couldn't catch their face." The first officer said. 

"Well what good is this then?" Auston asked, his voice was raising, and getting angry. 

"Aus, calm down." Mitch said, putting a hand on his shoulder.

"No I will not calm down Mitch, this is useless!" He exclaimed. "I need my girlfriend back and none of this is helping! Fine, you found a note and it says she's still alive, yeah I care about that, trust me, I really do! But I need to know she's safe. Safe and alive are two completely different things. I need her in my arms, I need to know she;s happy, and not with that lunatic! This isn't okay." Auston aid. He whispered the last part, sitting back down in the chair, and placing his elbows on his knees, his hands in his hair. 

"Actually Mr. Matthews, we did find something else out by you all being here. Thanks to Mr. Marner, we now know, that Rhinks isn't alone. We have a warrant out for his arrest, and now we know that someone was helping him, no matter if it was only for this note, they are now a suspect." The female officer said. Auston only sighed loudly, but you could still see tears falling from his eyes to the ground, and small sniffles from his nose. 

"I just want her back in my arms, I want that smile and that laugh back. That heart." Auston said, barely above a whisper, his voice was weak. 

"We're trying Auston, this is our first priority in the station right now, we're just trying to find all the information." The second officer said. "Let us properly begin, by introducing ourselves, I'm Sergeant Wilson."

"I'm corporal Baker." The first officer said.

"And I'm Lieutenant Ross." The female officer added at the end. "Were any of you close with Rhinks, or did you know him at all?" Ross asked. Everyone but Auston put their hands up.

"Caleb was Riley's first boyfriend, he was disgusting to her. None of us liked him, he was cruel from day one and no one approved of them." Emma said.

"She was in love though, so she was blinded by that, and didn't see that what he was doing to her was wrong. She saw past all that and she was blinded by what she felt for him, which was stupid. He cheated on her so many times and it was so obvious that he didn't love her, he didn't even care for her. He just liked her body and that whenever he asked, she was there." Mitch added. The three officers were scribbling notes messily down in their note pads. 

"Mitch you sound like you were the closest to both Caleb, and Riley, can we talk to you privately?" Baker asked. Mitch nodded and stood up, kissing the back of Steph's hand and following the three officers. They went into a small, closed off room, and all four sat down.

"Mitch, when did Riley and Caleb get together?" Ross asked, only baker was writing things down this time, like a scribe for the team. Wilson and Ross were asking the questions. 

"They got together in grade 10, and dated until a little after graduation. They were together for two years, and near the beginning they were both happy, she had the biggest crush on him for as long as I can remember. The two were the only ones who accepted me into the school at first when I came to London for hockey. I hung out with Riley the most, she was my best friend, I've never had anyone closer." Baker was scribbling, making too much sound for Mitch, he felt like he was the one in trouble, but he knew that couldn't be the case. He wouldn't say anything though, didn't want to make anyone nervous for him, or get mad at him. Everyone was on edge.

"When did you know their relationship was going downhill?" Wilson asked.

"He got distant. He wouldn't answer texts as fast, especially if they were urgent. Then, he hit her. She didn't tell me at first. I saw the bruises of his hands gripping harshly around her arms. She was terrified, but like I said earlier, she wouldn't leave him because she loved him. She was also really scared that if she left him, he'd hurt her even more, or worse." Mitch couldn't make eye contact. He was looking down and had his fingers interlaced, and elbow resting on his knees, twirling his thumbs between each other. 

"I Just can't believe he would do something like this. Can't you call in his parents and ask if they know anything about where he is? Isn't that what you guys are supposed to do when you know who's doing this, track him down, track the parents and family down! Find him and get my best friend back!" Mitch stood up, and walked out the door of the room, then the building. Auston and Steph following, but Emma went into the small room.