Chapter 20 – Vegas Wedding (Part Two)

July 20, 2014 – Little Rock, Arkansas

Eric closed and latched the gate of the white fence as he walked up the gravel pathway of the cute little aging eggshell house outside of the hustle of Little Rock. Only a few steps inside, he kneeled down as a dog ran up to him, taking a moment to give the dog's head a rub.

He was ashamed that it had taken him over two months to fulfill his promise to Chief Andrews – but work had been busy. Three new cases had been dropped on his desk that week alone, and it had taken him this long to get arrests and cases brought up in two of them. The other still sat on his desk, growing cold – but he couldn't ignore this obligation any longer.

He stood back up away from the dog and continued walking up the gravel pathway, reaching the first step of the porch before he was surprised by a middle-aged woman walking out of the door, wiping her hands on a kitchen towel.

“Can I help you?” she asked, a slight Southern accent in her voice.

“Yes, ma'am,” he said, smiling at her.

He reached the top of the porch and held his hand out to her.

“I'm sorry to disturb you in the middle of the day, ma'am,” he said. “I'm Detective Eric Rowe, of the Little Rock Police Department. Do you have a moment we could speak?”

“What's this about, if I may ask?” she said as she shook his hand.

“I hope I haven't scared ya, ma'am,” he said. “I wanted to ask you a few questions about two girls that came to visit you, about three months ago?”

“Are they in some kind of trouble?” the woman asked.

“Oh no, nothing like that, ma'am,” he said. “If I could just come in a few minutes – I only have some questions about what they came through for and what questions they asked, if that's okay with you.”

The woman paused a minute before softening.

“I have a few moments, Mr. Rowe,” she said, reaching behind her and putting her hand on the doorknob. “Come on in and I'll make us some coffee.”

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Las Vegas, Nevada

Addy smiled and looked over at her husband.

“My God, they actually did it,” she said.

He only mumbled a confirmation as he eyed JC and Stephanie dancing together.

“It kinda makes you glad we said screw it and ran off to AC, doesn't it?” she asked.

“Hell, yes,” he said, breathing out.

She laughed. “At least it's all over – they're married off and there's no more of the madness of long-distance wedding planning while cross-country touring. We can breathe again.”

“Well, for two days,” he responded. “Until Tuesday, when we're in Salt Lake City and it's back to touring.”

“Don't remind me,” she said.

The song ended and the DJ came over the mic to announce that it was time for the couple's first dance. Guests slowly cleared off the floor and gathered round, and Addy watched Stephanie and JC take their places on the floor for their number.

She smiled and let out a chuckle as the song started playing. With JC on the road all over the United States and Stephanie all the way back in New York too busy with her job to take any time away to tour, there was no time in the schedule for 'first dance' lessons – at least not together.

So Addy, always the boys' guinea pig, was Stephanie's stand-in for JC.

Courtney taught the two of them most of the final dance from Dirty Dancing. Addy was more than hesitant at first – after all, not only was it dancing, which she wasn't all that great at, but it was dancing with JC, and dirty dancing at that.

But once she got past the general weirdness of it all, with Lance and Justin along to watch them, and the nervousness that she would only end up having two left feet, she let go and found that she had a good time being twirled and swayed across the dance floor.

She smiled as JC dipped Stephanie, and then as the beat of the music picked up, grasped her hand and twirled her outward and back toward him.

As she watched the two of them twirl their way across the dance floor, she looked over at Lance, who was as focused as she was on them.

She stared at him only a few seconds before he noticed her out of the corner of his eye and glanced over.

“What?” he asked.

She only smiled.

“No,” he said with a smile.

She didn't speak, but she couldn't stop smiling.

“Not a chance,” he said. “Not in a million years. Keep dreaming.”

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Little Rock, Arkansas

“Sugar?”

Eric looked up at Mrs. Weston from his seat on the couch.

“Oh, no ma'am,” he said, putting his hand up. “I prefer my coffee black, thanks.”

The woman handed him a mug of the steaming liquid before she sat down in the chair to his left.

“I apologize if I startled you before,” he said as she made herself comfortable. “I realize it's probably a scary thing for a detective to show up at your door unannounced.”

“To tell you the truth, detective, it's something we're somewhat used to around here,” she said. “Though today, it was unexpected.”

“I understand,” he said. “I'll get right to the point, then, so you can get back to your life.”

He reached into his breast pocket for his notepad.

“Mrs. Weston, do you know two girls – Stephanie Andrews and Adeline James?”

She mumbled and shook her head. “No, those names don't sound familiar.”

“Are you absolutely sure?” he asked, opening the notebook and pulling out the picture that Chief Andrews had faxed over to him – the Chief's daughter with her friend at their college graduation. He placed it in front of her on the table. “If you could take a look at this picture of them...maybe they'll look familiar?”

He watched as the woman took the picture from the table and looked it over.

“Actually, yes, they do,” she finally said. “This one looks like one of the girls who came by a couple months ago.”

She sat the picture back on the table in front of him, her finger pointing to the Chief's daughter, Stephanie in the picture.

“I think the other one was with her, but she had blonde hair,” she said.

“Yes, I believe she does have blonde hair now,” he said.

“Are they in some kind of trouble?”

“No, ma'am,” he said.

“I'm sorry – what department did you say you were with, detective?” she asked.

“Missing Persons, ma'am.”

He watched her face become alarmed.

“Oh my God,” she said. “Are they okay?”

“Oh, yes,” he said, backtracking. “They're fine, don't worry. From what I hear they're both safe and sound in Las Vegas – although knowing Stephanie, safe might be an unfair assumption.”

He looked up at the woman, who was clearly confused.

“Stephanie is my old police chief's daughter,” he said. “I actually came here today to do him a bit of a favor. She's somewhat of a...troublemaker, at times. He found out that Stephanie came to visit you and your husband, with her friend Adeline...and he was curious what they came for. He didn't want his daughter causing...well, trouble.”

“Well, they were no trouble at all,” she said. “They were wonderful – respectful, caring. All they came for was to ask us some questions about our daughter.”

“Your daughter?” he asked.

“Yes. Melissa,” she said.

He briefly narrowed his eyebrows – why did that name sound familiar?

“Why would they come around asking about your daughter, Mrs. Weston?”

“They said they were friends with her back in New York,” she said. “But a few months ago, they said she disappeared on them – in the middle of the night, packed up her things and left. Left behind her boyfriend, her apartment, her friends.”

“With no warning?” he asked.

“Adeline said all she left was a note,” she said. “But for some reason, she didn't believe that Melissa wrote it herself.”

“Why wouldn't she believe that she wrote it herself?”

“Melissa...” She paused. “Melissa has a history, detective.”

“What kind of history?” he asked curiously.

The woman sighed, pushing her coffee cup towards the middle of the table and pushing herself off the chair.

“Our Melissa,” she said, walking over to the bookcase against the wall and pulling a book out of it. “She has gotten herself into a situation she can't get out of. No matter how hard she tries – and I truly believe she has tried.”

She cracked open the book and flipped to a certain page, laying it down in front of him.

“A man,” Mrs. Weston said. “A monster, really. We've done everything we know to help her – and we've all but given up.”

Eric leaned over to glance at the book, realizing it wasn't a book at all – in fact, it was a photo album. As sad as it made him, he couldn't say he was shocked when he saw the pictures of the beaten woman in front of him. He had seen it far too many times.

“The girls said Melissa was dating a man in New York – a friend of theirs,” she said. “She was happy...for the first time in a long time, as long as we can remember. One day, she up and disappeared – and nobody has heard from her since. Not even us.”

“She left a note?” he asked.

“Yes...depending on who you believe,” she said.

“Have the police looked into this at all?”

“The girls had a friend of theirs at the NYPD look into it, but they came up empty-handed,” she said, taking a sip out of her mug. “The fact is, I don't even think they tried very hard. It's unfortunately something we're used to – after so many years fighting the battle, you realize you can't win.”

He looked at the pictures in front of him. This is why he was made fun of...he looked at a beaten woman and took her under his wing, making it his mission to give her his life back.

And he was going to do it again. He had no idea how, since there was no official report open and he couldn't recognize the woman in the picture anyway. But he wasn't going to let that stop him.

“Not on my watch, ma'am,” he said.

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Las Vegas, Nevada

“Hey pretty baby with the high heels on...”

Addy looked up from her strawberry drink concoction to see Justin standing in front of her.

“You give me fever like I've never, ever known,” he sang with a smile.

She smiled back. “Justin, what are you doing?”

“Dance with me, pretty lady,” he said, holding his hand out to her. “Michael is playing, you're the only girl here who isn't tipsy, and I'm feeling lonely.”

“Won't your girlfriend have something to say about that?” she asked, taking another sip through the straw.

“Courtney is off wooing Joseph, making Kelly incredibly jealous,” he said. “She doesn't know I exist right now. And your husband is off dancing with AJ, which I'm sure is making her very happy.”

Addy looked to the dance floor to see Lance and AJ, the group's bass player, dancing together happily to “The Way You Make Me Feel”.

“And why would I want to dance with you?” she asked, looking back at Justin.

“'Cause I'm Justin Timberlake,” he said with a mild scoff.

She raised an eyebrow. “Yeah, that doesn't work on me, Justin. That actually works against you.”

“Addy, just...okay?” he said.

She giggled. “I don't know, Justin. I have a headache.”

“One dance,” he said, holding up his index finger. “Come on. Let's show Lance and AJ how to really cut a rug.”

She smiled. “Fine,” she said softly.

Justin smiled and took her hand as she stood up out of the chair and he walked her over to the dance floor.

“Let's tear up this dance floor, baby doll,” he said with a smile and a wink.

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Chris flicked the lighter, holding the flame to the end of the cigar for a few moments until it glowed a bright orange-red. He took a puff, billowing out a thick puff of smoke from his mouth.

He hadn't smoked a cigar in ages, but out here in the peaceful serenity of the garden, the sound of the gurgling fountain in front of him, was the only place he felt he could smoke one in silence.

Addy was right – he couldn't handle the wedding. Luckily, he forced himself to make it through the ceremony to be one of JC's best men, but half an hour into the reception, he had to leave, and he'd been out here ever since.

Addy clung tightly to him for a few minutes, trying to be a good friend who knew he was going through a hard time. But after a while, she had gravitated towards the rest of them to have fun, down a drink or two, and dance with her husband. Chris had seemed to fade into the background as the rest of his friends danced and celebrated the happy occasion.

He was happy for JC and Stephanie. It was just too hard to let loose and have fun.

He leaned his head back against the concrete bench and blew out another puff of smoke, staring up at the twinkling stars above him. It was a clear night, hardly a cloud or a breath of air. Away from the lights and chaos of the gambling center of the city, it was the last sight you would expect to see in Vegas, but it was just what he needed tonight.

Looking out at the infinite night sky...she was out there. Somewhere. He didn't know where. And she didn't make it easy to find her either. Knowing she was probably somewhere around the Little Rock area, Addy had even gone out to find her...only to come back empty-handed.

The last place he expected her to show up – Little Rock, exactly where they thought she would be, and exactly where they didn't find her when they searched – she showed up. Unannounced. Unexpected.

For a while, he had hung on to the idea that she had left unwillingly, intimidated by her ex-boyfriend. That idea became nothing more than a false sense of security when she had showed up. She had no visible marks that clued him in to the fact that maybe it was true, that she had gone back to her abusive ex to keep them both safe. In fact, she had never looked better.

“Chris!”

He heard a door slam, and looked up to see AJ and Justin running toward him. AJ held her long dress up in her hands to avoid tripping over it in her long heels.

“We've been looking for you,” Justin said breathlessly, his chest heaving in his light blue tie and vest, apparently shedding his suit jacket a long time ago.

“What's going on?” Chris asked, standing up as they stopped in front of him.

“It's Addy,” AJ said, looking terrified. “She just passed out.”