TAG ALONG

CHAPTER 6

Mae decided to go to the police station to meet the new officer.
But she decided to say hi to Sue first.
"Mae. I had soooo missed you. Why'd you never stop by? You don't miss me? Are you tired of my nagging? You don't like me anymore?" Stop by? As if the police station is the most usual place to stop by regularly Mae thought to herself.
"Hi Susan. I've been busy. Look, I brought you cookies." Her world famous store bought cookies.

"You see..."
She talked on and on but Mae was too spaced out. She was usually a good listener but Sue was just really hard to listen to.
"I'll just be on my way now. Thanks for the cookies and lending me an ear. It's hard finding someone to talk to here. Bye sweetie." She said after what seemed like forever.

She knocked on Nevaro's door.
"Come in." He said but as soon as he saw her his expression changed.
"What do you want?" He asked nonchallantly.
"Peace treaty?" She said unsurely bringing out a box of lemon cookies from her bag and placing them slowly on his desk.
"What are you bribing me for?"
"Me? Bribing? Whaaaaat?" She said in a tone that was supposed to sound surprised but just turned out sounding just outright childish.
"Stop beating around the bush."

"Okay I stopped to see the new cop. "
"His office is two doors left."
"What's his name?"
"Scott.
"Thanks." She said leaving.
She got in right after knocking on his door.

"Hello Scott. I am Mae West and I have been informed you will be working with Nevaro on my case..."
He looked up, she couldn't believe her eyes. Those hazel eyes, the dirty blonde hair. Scott McLaughlin. Lucy's boyfriend, she had shown her a picture of Vienna's father just in case someone came claiming .

"Ms. West?" He said questioningly.
"Yes, officer McLaughlin, right, nice to meet you, I've just remembered I have an appointment to get to. Nice meeting you." And with that she left.
He'd been assigned her sister's case? His girlfriend's case. How? He must have not told them that he knew Lucy West. And then she realized that he must know she knew who he was from her reaction. She would strike before he did, she would strike immediately.
She went back to Sue and asked her if she knew officer McLaughlin's address. She offered to go ask Nevaro. She brought it back to her, Sue had lied that some mail had arrived and Scott had already left.

Mae took the address from her and drove off to ransack his house for clues on why he was there. She called Miranda on her way but it went to her voicemail,
"Hey Randy. It's Mae. I want you to look up for me Scott McLaughlin. He has something to do with Lucy and her disappearance. I'm off to his house to look for some clues or something. Also please pick Vienna from the daycare adjacent to the bank. I'm going to tell the lady in charge that you will be picking him. Thanks. Bye."

As soon as she got to the given address she backed up my car and parked it at a safe distance. She didn't even try the front door since it ought to have been locked and walked to the back door. It was made of glass so she picked a large stone and broke it.
She hurriedly rushed into what she assumed was his study but the place was pretty much empty.

He must have just moved in. The study had some books and files though but just as she was starting to peruse through the paperwork something heavy hit her head and she fell to the ground.

~~~~~~~

After hours and hours of struggling with the ropes that bound her hands, Hale finally managed to free herself. She staggered up and down the house and made herself some coffee. She needed the caffeine boost. Later on she found a weighty wrench and just as she was about to break the glass back door to leave the house, she saw an old woman sitting on a chair observing the house she was in like a hawk. It was like she knew that she was there, or like she was lost in her own thoughts.

She sat there for about an hour when Hale saw a silhouette walk up to the door and break it. Then the old lady hurriedly went inside her house, most likely to call the police. Hale hadn't wanted the police involved because she obviously couldn't tell them that she was kidnapped in order to say on whose orders she killed a man she had formerly claimed to them to have not killed.

She hid behind the fridge and quietly followed the person up to some room where she hit her and the intruder fell. But then again just as she was about to leave she heard the front door open and the man who abducted her entered. His footsteps got closer and she started panicking since she didn't know where to hide the passed out girl who for all she knew was no accomplice of his since she got in a very un-accomplice-likely way by breaking her way through the backdoor.

His phone rang and he stopped just in front of the door to the room they were in. Hale thought to herself that her guardian angel must have been working extra hours that day.

"Hello, Miranda....Yes?..."
Hale leaned in closer to the door. Her ears were accustomed to eavesdropping, let's just say that it's part of the package when you work as a gossip columnist for five years. "Mae left me a voicemail. She said she's suspicious of you and your involvement with her sister. She may be currently in your house ransacking it right now so if I were you I would be on my way home immediately." Hale wondered if that was the same Miranda she knew from the office.

"Oh and Hale hasn't been found yet. She didn't even show up for work today. Some teenage boy came out saying he saw a man carrying her to a black pickup truck. But the boy isn't a very reliable source since his friends say he was drunk then and they had just dropped him there. Bye Scott. Max is in an especially cranky mood today probably because boo boo bear isn't here I must get back to work. "
Definitely the Miranda she knew, and she was involved with the man that had abducted her it dawned on her.

Miranda had not told Max that Mae had asked her to pick his son. The truth was that she had seen the danger. A little too late but still.. She wasn't going to continue being Max's puppet. She was already in enough danger. She'd give back the baby to Mae and get as far as she could from Lucy's hell of a life. She was happy to see that she was suffering after what she'd done to her brother. Her soul was not really appeased but she could live with it now.

As soon as the call was done Scott chuckled to himself. "If it was her, she would be on her way here. But now it is me, and I'm already here. "
He looked at the basement door and saw that it was unlocked," She's trying to play hero, huh? Setting free my prisoner." He thought the girl was in the basement setting Hale free, little did he know, Hale silently chuckled to herself.
He then walked into the basement where Hale had been held captive. As soon as he got in she ran after him and locked the entrance with the not-so-secure-now lock that she had loosened while escaping.
Knowing that she had very little time to get away she dragged the girl who was now regaining conscious out through the thousands of broken glass pieces out of the back door and into some black pickup van that was parked in the driveway.

She remembered it as the one Scott had used to kidnap her. As she loaded the girl into the passenger seat she continuously mumbled something about picking a Vienna. She didn't know anything about Scott but this girl right here, was going to tell her what she knew about him.

Hale tied her up and gagged her and then she went to the driver's side, got in, and thanks to a few rowdy friends from college who taught her how to start a car without the keys, drove off to her apartment. She was going to have a hard time explaining to Max why she had kidnapped a girl and trying to convince him to not get the cops involved but it was all worth the risk to her.

I changed Hale's name from Chloe and I've been having a hard time remembering that particular detail so please excuse the Chloe references.