New Year's Angel (R5 Fan Fiction -Rydellington)

Confronting the Truth

May 1st 2014

Riker

                Immediately after the trial the guys’ and I left the court room and made a plan. Rocky and I were more influential when it came to getting Dad to do what we wanted and with us being the oldest it just made more sense for us to be the ones to confront him. Ross and Ellington were going to stay with Officer Nichols and await our call that would hopefully provide us with more evidence to sort through. Rocky and I headed towards the private room that our Dad was being kept in. We were not supposed to have any contact with him but Officer Nichols had managed to get us some time with our Father. He was to be handcuffed to a chair and there were to be two guards at the door. As we approached the guards a female Officer cut in front of our path. “Mr. Lynch...’s... I must ask you to reconsider speaking with your father.” Rocky looked at this officer with a serious glare. “And you are?” I had to hand it Rocky. The man was straight to the point and not afraid to speak his mind.

                The officer looked at Rocky with a disgusted sort of authoritative stare. “My name is Officer Hudson. I was the officer in charge of arresting your parents back in California. Sir, I must advise against speaking with your Father. He could easily manipulate the conversation and I don’t want you boys getting hurt anymore than you already have.”  What was this lady talking about? She was speaking as if she was positive that my Dad was guilty. What happened to innocent until proven guilty? “Officer Hudson, I appreciate your concern for our wellbeing however, I do not believe that we are in any danger with our Father. So if you’ll excuse me, I have something to discuss with the man.” Rocky patted my shoulder and made a hilarious face at Officer Hudson as she moved out of the way. As we entered the room Rocky whispered “smooth” into my ear.

                Dad was sitting at the far side of the table with both hands handcuffed underneath it. His face lit up when he saw us come through the door. “Boys, it’s so good to see you. Rocky you especially, I was so worried about you the last few months.” As we sat down I could hear Rocky snort. “Oh yeah Dad, so worried about me but you couldn’t tell us that you were involved in Rydel’s disappearance. Yup, super worried I bet.” I was kind of dumb founded at Rockys bluntness at first, but then again, he was right. I couldn’t argue with Rocky when Dad had in fact been involved and for the last four months had let his sons’ try to figure out a puzzle that had already been 3 quarters of the way solved. “What Rocky is trying to say, is what the hell Dad! You wait until you are at the stand in a trial to tell us in secret messages that there is more to the story then we know? Are you playing games with us Dad?”

                Dad’s smile had slowly faded as he listened to us speak. “Boy’s I understand that you are angry with me. I know I don’t deserve the time to explain; but hear me out. Those messages needed to be coded because I can’t tell you anything that I know other than what I have. Those men are where this all started...” I cut him off again. I was getting pretty good at interrupting. “So tell us what you can Dad. We have managed to piece together your story so far. Why not fill in at least a few of the blanks.”He quickly nodded his head and began again. “Those men are where the story starts. They came by the house around Christmas to interview a few of you guys. When I realized what they were doing after speaking to Ross I told them that they needed to leave. That was why they had left so quickly.”

                Well that made more sense that how Ross had made it seem. They were not infatuated with just him. “I had put them out of my mind after that. That is until I found out you had been approved for the New Year’s Bash. I was afraid that my instincts were right, and that those guys were interested in getting to all of you. I had tried to make contact with him when we arrived in New York because I had wanted to prevent any surprises. Obviously that failed when they suddenly showed up as security at the event. I knew these guys were no security guards. Some things took place back stage that I am not proud of. They had thought that I would be able to get the one guy’s daughter to sing with you guys. But as I had no idea who this girl was or what she sounded like and this was the biggest gig of your careers, I had straight out said no. Well they were not happy about that and I quickly realized they had more in mind than just playing at a show.

                I had noticed one of the guys staring at Rydel about 20 minutes later and the way he was looking at her was disturbing. Not in a creepy, dangerous man kind of way; but more pondering and thoughtful. He was planning something. After that, things got out of control. I can’t tell you boys any more than that.” My mouth hung open as I just stared at him. Rocky’s voice sounded as if it was coming from some deep black hole in the room. “Are you kidding me? You drop all those hints in the trial and we come to talk to you and this is all we get! You better be telling us more Dad!” I threw my hand over Rocky’s mouth and smiled at Dad. “Again, ignore him. He has been dealing with this for way too long. But seriously Dad what do you mean you can’t tell us more. What about the hand print huh! Why were you in that car? Where is she?”

                Yeah that’s right. I wasn’t giving up. He was going to give me answers. Even if I had to pull each piece out of him one by one, I was going to figure this out. “Riker...okay fine... yes I was in the car. I snuck in just after shutting Rydel’s door. Yes I pulled her out of that car. I also saved Ellington’s life. That truck was coming at them head on. If I hadn’t have turned the wheel at the last second, he would have been killed on impact; which is what they would have wanted.” Dad had said that last part under his breath as if he did not intentionally say it out loud. “They? Who are they?” He suddenly looked up as if he realized what he had said and regretted it. “Who? No one. I... I... look Riker I can’t say. Okay; just those are the answers I have for you and know that Rydel was not in the car. I don’t know where she is now but I know she is alive. At least she was a week ago.”

                Now he’d done it. I could not control Rocky as he shoved my hand off his face and threw his chair at the wall. “SHE IS ALIVE! YOU LET ME LOOK ALL AROUND NEW YORK FOR FOUR FREAKING MONTHS AND YOU KNEW SHE WAS ALIVE. YOU DON’T THINK THAT WOULD HAVE BEEN SOMETHING GOOD TO MENTION BEFORE DAD. HUH!” I grabbed Rocky from behind and forced him back down into my still standing chair. Holding his shoulders down I managed to get him to calm before he continued. “How long have you known that she was alive Dad?” My Dad looked up at us both with sad eyes. This was hard for him to talk about. Good! I’m glad. This was hard for us to hear. “I knew about a week after the disappearance. I swear to you if I could tell you more I would.” That wasn’t good enough for me. “Dad, look at Rocky. Look at me! We need more answers. I don’t care if you...” “RIKER, just hang on!” Ryland had stormed into the room.