Chapter Three:
Maryann and Matthew walked into the quiet house that morning unaware of the events that had just transpired.
“Where’s mommy?”
“I’m not sure, Matt.”, she says as she looks around the house. “Your mom’s car is in the driveway and her briefcase is on the bench by the door where she always leaves it.”
Maryann walked into the kitchen to see if Nora had left a note and Matthew ran upstairs calling for his mother. Maryann walked back into the living room and noticed the back door was open. She walked outside and looked around the backyard, nothing. She walked back into the house as Matt was coming down the stairs.
“Mommy’s not upstairs, Maryann. Where is she?”
“I’m sure she’s at work. Why don’t you run upstairs and put your stuff away and then we’ll take a ride down to your mom’s office before we go to camp.”
“Okay.”
Matthew came downstairs and they left for the office.
“Maybe Uncle—maybe my daddy came and got my mom and they went to work together.”
“Maybe.”
Maryann looked over at Matthew and smiled. She didn’t want him to see how nervous she was. It wasn’t like Nora not to leave a note or call her if she wasn’t going to be home when she was expected to be there, and add that to the fact that the back door was open and Maryann’s nervousness increased. She had a feeling that something was seriously wrong.
They found Nora’s office the way she had left it the night before, locked up tight.
“Maybe she’s with my dad or Uncle Hank.”
“Let’s go see.”
They walked into the squad room. Matthew saw Bo standing in front of his office and ran up to him.
“Daddy!”
Bo reached down and scooped Matthew up in his arms.
“Hey champ, what are you doing here?”
“Maryann and me can’t find mommy. She wasn’t home when I came home from my sleepover.”
Bo glanced over at Maryann and noticed her expression. He looked at Matthew for a second and put him down.
“Marcie.”
“Yes sir?”
“Matthew, why don’t you go with Marcie and watch some cartoons in the break room, okay?”
“Okay daddy.”
They start to walk away.
“Daddy?”
“Yeah, buddy?”
“Are you going to go look for mommy now?”
“Yeah, I’m going to go look for mommy.”
“Okay good. Love you daddy.”
“Love you too, champ.”
Bo waited until they were out of sight before he walked into his office, motioning for Maryann and Antonio to follow him. He closed the door and sat behind his desk.
“Okay, Maryann tell us everything you know.”
“I picked Matthew up this morning at his friend’s house and we went straight to Ms. Buchanan’s house to pick up his stuff for camp.”
“What time was that?”
“Around 7:30.”
“What happened next?”
“We found the house empty. Matthew went upstairs to look for his mother and I went into the kitchen to see if she had left a note. I didn’t find one so I went back into the living room. That’s when I noticed that the back door was open. I looked outside but she wasn’t there. Her car is still in the driveway and she never took her briefcase with her. It’s not like her not to leave a note so I brought Matthew here hoping maybe she just left in a hurry and you had driven to work together.”
Bo looked up at Antonio who nodded his head and walked out the door.
“We’ll find her Maryann, I swear.” He laid a reassuring hand on her shoulder. “We have to find her”, he thought to himself. “We just have to.”
“I hope so Mr. Buchanan. Is there anything I can do?”
“What I really need you to do is take care of Matthew for us. I need to know that he’s being looked after so I can concentrate on finding out where Nora is. Take him to camp. Distract him as much as possible. Tell him that I’ll come by and see him tonight.”
They walk towards the break room.
“Okay, then we’ll see you tonight.”
They walk into the break room. Matthew looks up from his game and runs over to Bo.
“Daddy, did you find mommy yet?”
“No buddy, I haven’t found her yet but I’m sure she just forgot to tell us about a meeting she had.”
“Okay. Can I still go to camp?”
“Of course, Maryann’s going to take you there now.”
“Good, we’re playing baseball today, and the coach said I can play first base just like Jim Thorne.”
“Sounds like fun and you can tell me all about it tonight when I see you.”
“Okay, daddy, I’ll see you later.”
“See ya buddy, love you.”
“Love you too, daddy.”
Maryann takes Matthew’s hand and they leave the station for camp. Bo walks back towards his office when his cell phone rings.
“Buchanan.”
“Commissioner, you better get over here.”
A remote cabin in the mountains:
Nora opens her eyes but quickly closes them, a stabbing pain ripping through her head. She wanted to bring her hands up to put pressure on her temples like she used to do when she had an “mword” (sorry y’all just can’t even type out the real word without getting queasy *wink* trace lol) but they were tied behind her back. She opened her eyes this time prepared for the pain. She looked down towards her feet and noticed that her ankles were bound with rope. She looked around the small room. There was a small window with a dingy curtain on the far wall. She noticed the few pieces of furniture in the room, a small table with a lamp on it and the bed that she was sitting on. She tried to push past the fog and remember how she got there.
“Think Nora, think.”
She replayed everything back in her mind, causing her head to throb even more. She remembered working late at the office, her conversation with Bo. She remembered that the house was empty when she got home because Matthew was at a friend’s house. Her thoughts immediately shifted to her little boy and how frightened he might be. He knew she was supposed to be there when Maryann brought him home. She gave into a few tears before she forced herself to regain her composure. She made herself focus on what brought her to this place. She remembered the letter she’d received. She remembered that she couldn’t sleep that morning so she’d gotten up and stood outside for a few minutes listening to some music. Suddenly she remembered a man standing in front of her.
“Nick Manzo.”
*~*Okay for those of you who might not know the storyline surrounding Nick Manzo here’s a quick rundown. Nick Manzo was a detective for the LPD. He was caught selling weapons, I think from the police evidence room, which he had tried to frame Andie Harrison for. Nora helped Bo bring him down (wow imagine that….the bad guys actually go to jail on OLTL lol) so anyway he’s an ex-police officer bent on revenge.*~*