In Too Deep

33. Delusion

Jayda POV

I sat at the table picking through my plate. Eventually I ended up eating since I didn't have a choice. After the first time I confirmed he wasn't trying to poison me.

He really thought this was a game of playing house. Forcing us into this perfect family role. It was really insane.

"How's your food?"

"It's fine."

"I used to make it for you. Remember?"

"I remember throwing it up after you had your way with me the whole night."

He shifted uncomfortably in his seat.

"I guess I owe you an apology for that. And I promise I'll never hurt you like that again."

"Why? I'm not your type no more? I get it. You like em five years old."

"That's enough."

"It'll be enough when I say it is!" I said banging my fists on the table.

"Why do you treat me like this?"

"Let me go home!"

"You are home!"

I stood up going up to my room and slamming the door.

I refuse to play along with his delusions.

Dashawn POV

"Yo Dash!" I heard Charlie call waking me up.

I jogged up the stairs moving behind him.

"I think you onto something, man."

"What did you find?"

"Okay. Up until four months ago, this man never appeared on footage. The first date was February 4. Every Wednesday after that he comes back. It never fails. He doesn't always go in. But when he does you can see like right here he can't keep his eyes off of Jayda. And then in March watch this."

I watched on the screen as Jayda got in her car and left and the man pulled off a few seconds after.

"He was following her." I said more to myself.

"That was the first time he did that. Then every time after that he followed her. But look at this. April 15. He comes and he looks like he's looking for her but she isn't there. That's when he approached Mani. All signs point to this being our guy."

"Where does he go?"

"I already took care of that. I followed him on traffic cameras going back to a hotel on Park Street. And Jayda went missing on a Wednesday right?"

"Right."

"That matches his pattern. And the night before she went missing was the last night he spent at the hotel."

"Charlie please tell me you found this man."

"I hacked into the government's VICAP facial recognition system and I was able to retrieve ten images of him ranging from here to New Jersey. He's going north."

Jayda's voice rang through my head. 'I swear I was so much better off where I was before I came here.'

"He took her to New York."

"Okay that helps. I couldn't make out a state on the license plate but I got the number. I'm running it now." After a few minutes of waiting it finally popped up. "It's a Travis Johnson."

"That name isn't familiar. You got an address?"

"No. He spent years living with his wife Alix Johnson. She died about ten years ago and then nothing."