No Matter What

Chapter 20

As soon as Meryl helped Don sit down, he took her hand in his and kissed it. "My wife and I have been through too much to shoot the shit. So, get down to it. Where are they? And don't you DARE lie to us. Where the fuck are they?"

"Don, I really am so incredibly sorry for what I did to you back in high school." Stacey had waited a long time to say that. "I am absolutely horrified at what my parents did to you. You look..."

Meryl wrapped her arm around her husband as she spoke up. "Drugged? Beaten? Like he has been through absolute HELL because of YOUR parents? He has."

"So has my wife." Don said as Mike, Larry, and the police officer all sat there taking notes and watching the scene unfold. "My wife was forced to DIVORCE me because of YOUR parents. Because of something I NEVER did. I tried so damn hard to rebuild my life after YOU tore it down. I NEVER wanted that to touch my wife and children...well, it has."

"No, baby, it hasn't." Meryl tried to calm him down. "First of all, because you did NOTHING wrong. No one can hurt us, Don Man."

Don turned to Meryl and pointed to Stacey. "HER parents and MY mother convinced you the only way I would live is if you divorced me. All because of something I NEVER did! How can you say it hasn't touched us?"

"Because NOTHING and NO ONE can come between us." Meryl said as she gently kissed his lips, running her fingers through his hair. She could tell that he was shaking, that his blood pressure was getting high, his breathing was rapid and he was weak. "We need to move this along. Don is getting weaker by the minute and he needs to be in bed. Tell him what you know...now."

Stacey knew that there would be no exchanging pleasantries. "Once I learned what my parents did, I tracked their phone. I understand the police tried to track it last night from the messages she sent your wife, but I have a special app on their phone and mine. If we can't get ahold of them, we can track them this way. Here."

"Chicago?" Don asked as he looked at the map and zoomed in. "Oh, holy hell." He looked over at Larry. "Did you recognize this place?"

Larry stood behind Don as he zoomed in even further. "I forgot all about that place. But that's it. You and I got into some trouble there."

"Oh, yeah." Mike said as he looked as well. "I remember driving out there to get you two out of trouble."

Meryl was beyond lost. "Can someone fill me in, please? Chicago? What does that have to do with anything?"

"I'm sorry, baby." Don said as he showed it to her. "You know how James had investment properties all over the midwest?"

Meryl nodded. "When we helped your mom with everything after he died, she kept them. She hired management companies to keep them up, so she didn't have to, but she still owned them."

"And she reaped the benefit." Don said as Meryl nodded. "This is on the beach. It's one of the properties. She is housing them there."

Meryl's eyes got huge. "I don't fucking believe her! As soon as I realized you were gone, I went over there and BEGGED her. She said she knew nothing. She came to your hospital room early this morning and AGAIN said she knew nothing. She told YOU that she had no idea where they were. What? Is she just waiting for me to step out and them to get to you again? To our kids? To the babies?"

"There is NO way that is going to happen, sweetheart. We will talk about fucking Jane later." Don rolled his eyes as Meryl leaned her head on his shoulder. "What do we need to do to get them?"

The officer looked at Don. "You give me the word and I will call the units there. They will bring them here to our jurisdiction."

"Do it." Don said. "Now. I can't risk them getting to my family."