“Thanks, I’ll let them know.” I give her a smile knowing that nothing really goes past her and this is not the last I’ll hear about it either.
“I’ll see you this weekend.” Mom comes around the table and gives me a kiss on the cheek then leaves.
I get started on my work, as I want to try and leave early before I have to meet Jackson.
* * *
I didn't finish as early as I wanted to, but I got a few things that I needed to be done. "John, has Jackson called you?" I ask.
“Yes, would you like to go now?” John opens the door for me. Giving him a nod, I get in the car.
I called Jackson earlier while I was at work to see if he could find Hope’s last name for me. He said he’ll let me know. I thought if I could find her last name I’d be one step closer to finding out why she’s so scared.
It's an hour drive to where Jackson wants us to meet up, and I told him I wanted it closer. It felt wrong leaving Hope home all day by herself, but I couldn't get out of work. Tomorrow I can work from home, so I don't have to leave her.
Pulling up to the warehouse, I have a quick look around before getting out of the car. I button my coat and head over to the entrance. The cold breeze hits me and I smile knowing that out of today, something good is about to happen.
Walking into the room, the man has his back to me, and I see Jackson getting things ready and not looking at the asshole. I walk straight past him.
Jackson looks over at me handing me the photo and knife. “Ready to have some fun?”
I walk to the chair placed in front of myguest. “Do you know this man?” I hold the picture in front of him, he looks at it and shakes his head. “Do you know who I am?” I ask.
“Never seen you before.” The man isn’t scared, he’s sitting in front of me like he’s going to live another day.
Bringing the chair closer to him and without letting him think about what my next move is, I take the knife and put it through his hand. He screams and tries to get out of the chair, but he's tied down tight.
I hold the picture up once more. “I’ll ask again, have you seen this man?”
He's panting and trying to talk, but he's not getting any words out. "I… I only… got… out… of … prison few … days ago," he finally lets out, and I look over at Jackson as I pull the knife out of his hand.
Jackson hands me a bottle, and I lean back into the chair and think about what I want to do with him. At the moment, my head is with Hope. I have questions about her. I want answers.
Jackson tells me, “End this and then we can go talk about what you want to talk about. Your mind is at home.” I have to agree with him, my head isn’t here, not even a little bit.
“I need to get some of this tension out of me,” I tell him. As much as he is right, I need to let off steam. Plus this bastard needs to know that if he hurts children, he will feel some of the pain too. Grabbing the knife off the table, I walk over to him and slowly starting cutting his chest down to his stomach. I smile as he screams and I say, “You know that this is how the kids screamed when you touched them, did you stop?” I ask.
He looks at me and tears escape his eyes. He's trying to say something to me, but the words are stuck, and I push the knife into his stomach very slowly.
“Please, I won’t—”
“Now, don’t lie. We both know that you’ll be out there looking for your next victim.” Walking back to the table, I pick up the salt. Now the fucker is going to scream.
Taking a handful of grains, I stand in front of him as he looks at my hand. I rub the salt into his chest, and he tries to kick and move away, but it's no use, he isn't going anywhere. He screams out every name he can at me and I stop for a moment just smiling at him. He won't last much longer, and I feel a bit better now, knowing that he felt pain before I killed him.
Grabbing the gun from the table next to me, I shoot the man between the eyes, watching his head fall down lifeless.
Jackson takes the gun from me and pulls another chair in front of me. “Talk to me.”
“Did you find out anything about her?” I ask. If anyone can find anything on Hope, he can. He’s always been able to uncover secrets.
“I was going to bring the file over to the house,” Jackson tells me. There is no good news to his tone, it’s too quiet. “I went back to her apartment to see what name she had put down on the lease because I couldn’t find any Hope in the system.”
Nodding my head, I bring my eyes to meet his. “Bring it over as soon as you finish here.” Getting off the chair, I make my way back to the car. How did Jackson not find anything in the police system about her? I mean everyoneshouldbe in there. He even asked a few of his friends that are higher up in the law world than he is to see if they could find something, but nothing.
I tell John to drive me into town so that I can pick up a few things and I text Jackson to tell him to meet me there. Then we can go back to my place. Mom said that anyone with Lupus needs to stay warm and it's starting to get cold now, so I want to buy Hope some decent winter clothes, as she didn't have anything in that shitty apartment of hers. Well, not that I could see.
Jackson was done within the hour which was good. I went into a few shops and bought a coat, sweater, and sweatpants for now, as I wanted to get home to see what Hope has been up to all day or even if she's still there. Jackson gets in the car and hands me the file. Ripping it open, I begin to read as I don't live too far and will be home soon.