Chapter 8
In the morning after a bad night’s sleep Mandy woke up to the sounds of Justin flipping through the pages of her journal. It had been hard to sleep knowing that someone was watching her. She was a little curious to find out how Chris might be doing though; she hadn’t heard anything during the night that would suggest that he had gotten some bad news.
“Find anything interesting in there yet?” Mandy asked followed by a yawn.
“Tons, you are a very disruptive and intuitive person.” Justin commented. He had skimmed the journal once looking for Katy’s name and any clues as to where she went but now was going back and reading to cover to cover. He was impressed as to how much detail Mandy gave of the crime and each person’s involvement. “You wrote in here a few times ‘in her line of work’ when you talked about Katy but you never say what she does exactly, or what any of you do for that matter?”
Mandy instantly turned her head and got quite. Okay Katy had been right keeping a journal and documenting the whole thing had been an idea, she wouldn’t admit it but it was in her night stand for a reason, she read it often in order to relive the experience. She sat up and stretched as best she could but avoided eye contact with the other person in the room.
“What are you hiding?” Justin stated, he got up and went over by Mandy, sitting on the bed beside her. Mandy gave a little half smile.
“I can’t tell you, we aren’t supposed to talk about what they do… what we do.” Mandy said softly refusing to look at the singer, accept for a few short glances. It was hard to get a read on her. It was apparent by her home that Mandy had done well for herself, whatever it was that she did for a living. She finally laughed. “Just how much did you guys actually think you knew about us, it was only 9 days? Most of which you spent locked in a basement.” She asked in return.
Justin maintained eye contact with her, trying to read her mind. Was she saying that the girl weren’t who they thought they were? It was true that they didn’t know much but it had been an unusually experaince. Maybe her name really was Madeline and she really lived in France, though her accent seemed to be more American, than anything. When he wasn’t watching her Mandy flashed a smiled, it would have matched the one Katy was famous for almost to a ‘T’. Their uncertainty would be their undoing. As long as she could keep them guessing then she had all the power.
“So is it Mandy or Madeline, then?” Justin asked.
“You can call me Mandy. You should discuss it with your friends; maybe they made more progress than you have. I am worried about Katy and I want to know what happened to her just as much as you do.” Mandy explained the headed for the bathroom. She wasn’t going to give away her true identity, at least not yet anyway.
“So you were serious, you haven’t heard from her at all.” Justin asked. Mandy just shook her head and went on her way. She had heard nothing. Justin wasted no time in tracking down Chris who was sitting on the couch with his eyes still glued to the laptop. This new information was disturbing for Justin but not nearly as heart braking as what he was looking at now. “Chris, are you crying?”
He looked up at his friend with watery eyes, red and irritated from having stared at the computer screen far too long. Chris wiped his eyes and tried to play it off as something else. He darted into the kitchen for a drink of water. Justin went after him and found him hunched over the kitchen sink, still rubbing his eyes. Justin patted him on the back and waited for him to compose himself.
“She is in love with another man.” Chris stated, still staring down at the sink. Justin looked confused and Chris must have noticed. “Brandi sent Mandy and e-mail almost 2 months ago, talking about this guy that she met… He proposed to her.”
“Did she say yes?” Justin asked. He realized how insensitive it was after the fact. Chris shook her head no, Brandi had explained in the e-mail that she wasn’t sure that this guy was the one and admitted that she was still thinking about Chris. “That is good right, I mean there is still a chance that she said no and she has been thinking about you. That has to mean something?”
“I guess so, but that was 2 months ago, what if she has said yes since then? What would you do if you found out Katy had someone else?” Chris asked. This time he looked Justin in the eye. There were mixed emotions, it reminded him of what Mandy had just told him about them not really knowing the girls, maybe there had always been another guy, another life. They were starting to feel like they had not thought this all the way through. “Where is Mandy?” Chris asked after a long pause.
They both took off for the bathroom and beat on the door a few times. Mandy finally opened it and smiled at them with her tooth brush hanging half way out of her mouth. She left the door open and went back to brushing her teeth as best she could with her hands still bound together. It was clear that the guys weren’t criminal master minds or very dangerous for that matter. Things were about to get interesting, Mandy was starting to wonder if they even stood a chance at catching the other two.
“I think this is the part where you get in touch with your friends and start planning your next move.” Mandy explained glancing at them in the refection of the mirror. “Unless of course you are ready to admit defeat?” Chris just groaned and got his cell phone out. He walked away leaving Justin to watch over the prisoner.
JC watched as Kim started to stir a little in her sleep. The sounds of the phone ringing and the voices from the other room were clearly starting to wake her from her sleep. He was lying next to her as she slept in her own bed, his body pressed against her back and his arms around her holding her close. JC had reasoned with the other guys that he was there simply to make sure that she didn’t try to escape but they knew better. It had been a few days and Kim still hadn’t forgiven him for holding her against her will, but she was starting to open up about what had happened and why she had left in the first place.
She would never admit it but all those feeling for him were starting to return, even the ones that scared her. The night before she had fallen sound asleep in the safety and comfort of his embrace, which hadn’t gone unnoticed, it was giving JC some hope that the love was still there and their relationship could in fact be saved.
Judging by the sounds of their voices it was only a matter of time before Lance or Joey opened the door, so JC slipped out to meet them, before they would wake her completely. JC knew from experience that the next few days would be tiring for all of them so he wanted her to rest up.
“That was Chris, they have Mandy but she isn’t saying much that is useful. We are going to head to France to meet up with them. Meanwhile Chris has an idea of how to lure Brandi out of hiding, but no one seems to know where Katy ended up.” Lance quickly explained. JC nodded to Joey who was in the living room still on the phone. “He’s talking to Mandy.” Lance explained. JC looked concerned but went to find something to eat instead. He knew that talking to her could be interesting or disappointing.
“We will find your friends.” Joey sighed after the conversation had gone quiet. Truthfully Mandy had run out of things to say. They had covered the basic of how they were both doing and the usually round of questions one asks someone that they have not seen in awhile.
“I hope you do and I wish I could help you but I am pretty sure that I have told you everything that I know.” Mandy said softly.
“I have one last question before I hang up…” Joey said, and then paused. “Did you really mean what you said to me that night before I passed out?” Mandy would have smacked herself in the head if she wasn't still tied up. Why had she said that to him? But before she admitted to anything she wanted to see exactly what Joey remembered about that night. So she whispered something in French then got up and walked away from Chris and the phone.
