Chapter Forty Six:
Bo walked into the house and looked around; the anger and fear welling up inside of him. He knew he had to keep it together; that for right now he had to treat this case like any other missing person’s case. Except it wasn’t just any other case. It was his family; his world; his everything. He walks over to the desk; pulling on his gloves. He picks up her rings and squeezes them tightly in his hand; the tears threatening to fall. He reaches over and picks up the note; afraid to read the words the letter contained…
**flashback to earlier***
He grabs her off the couch and roughly sets her down in the chair behind the desk. He takes her left hand and pulls the rings off her finger…
“You won’t be needing these anymore”, he says as he lays them down on the desk. He set a piece of their personalized stationary down in front of her and handed her a pen. “Write exactly what I tell you to write, Nora or you won’t live to see your children grow up.”
Nora looks up at him and takes the pen from his hand…She looks down at their names embossed on the top of the stationary…”Mr. and Mrs. Bo Buchanan…”, a tear falls to the paper before she even begins to write…
Pacing behind her; gun drawn, “Okay, like I said write everything I tell you and only what I tell you do you understand me?”
She just nods her head…and as she writes her tears continue to wet the page; her heart breaking for her and the man she loves…
**end of flashback**
Bo walks over to the couch reading the words to himself; no longer holding back the tears….
“Dear Bo,
I can’t live with this lie anymore. I thought we could make this work, I thought I wanted this but I don’t. I want; no I need to be with him. I thought I had fallen out of love with him but I was wrong. I’ve taken the kids and I’ve gone away to start our new life as a family. Please don’t come and find us.
Nora”
Bo walks back over to the desk and lifts up the broken pictures; setting them back upright; he opens his hands and looks at the rings in his hand….
**flashback to earlier**
She folds the letter and places it in the envelope; quickly scrawling his name across the front. She places it against the lamp before picking up her rings and kissing them once before placing them back down on the table. He grabs her out of the chair; causing it to fall to the ground.
“Let’s go.”
“Bo’s never going to believe that letter, Troy. He’s never going to believe that I’d take his children and leave him for another man.”
“You better hope he believes you and doesn’t try to come and find you.”
To herself, “Oh, he’ll find us. I know he will.”
She decides to try and make one last effort to fight him off. She takes the scissors that she had managed to hide in the sleeve of her shirt; while he was busy reciting the letter. She drew up her arm and tried to stab him but before she could he knocked her to the ground…she caught the glint of metal just before her world turned black…
**end of flashback**
Hank walks in the house and finds Bo pacing around the living room on his cell phone….
“What!!!! How did that happen?....No I don’t want to hear your excuses…Find him, NOW!!!”
Placing his hand on Bo’s shoulder, “Hey, there buddy. Yelling at them is not going to make them find him any sooner.”
“He has my family, Hank. That maniac took my wife and kids; he killed Jamison…”
“Jamison isn’t the only murder he’s committed.”
“What are you talking about, Hank.”
Hands him a piece of paper, “Read for yourself.”
Reading the letter out loud, “If you’re reading this note then something must have happened to me and I know who is responsible. My name is Nicholas Manzo Jr. (okay I have no idea what Nick’s son’s name was on the show but here he’s a jr. LOL) I am the one who shot Commissioner Bo Buchanan on the orders of Dr. McGiver. Dr. McGiver came into my hospital room on the night of the shooting and told me that since I had not followed through with my task he would have to deal with me. I wasn’t sure what exactly he meant, but if you’re reading this than my worse fears came true.
I’m truly sorry for what I did to Commissioner Buchanan and his family. Dr. McGiver found me at a runaway shelter in the city. We met by chance, he befriended me and I told him all about my father and how he had been killed by Commissioner Buchanan. I was so angry and he told me I should seek my revenge on the one person who took my father away. He also told me that Commissioner Buchanan was also the man who took away the woman that Dr. McGiver loved. He said that if I “took” care of Commissioner Buchanan, he would help me start a new life with a whole new identity. I fell for it. I was tired of being the kid whose father was an ex-con, who kidnapped and raped someone.
I know this apology won’t make up for what I did, but like I said before I am truly sorry for what I did. Please tell my mom I’m sorry and that I love her very much.
Sincerely,
Nicholas Manzo, Jr.”
“My God, Hank. Troy killed that boy after he failed to kill me. Troy wanted me out of the way in order to get to Nora and Matthew. He wouldn’t have known about Madison at the time because we hadn’t told anyone, yet. I bet he started attacking these women thinking that I would be so distracted with work that I wouldn’t pay attention to my family. I guess in a way he was right.”
“You can’t blame yourself for this, Bo. This is not your fault.”
“She left this note (hands it to Hank) .
Reads the note and then looks up at Bo, “You don’t believe this do you?”
“Of course not, he forced her to write it. He has no idea how tight our relationship is. He’s delusional.”
Bo’s cell phone rings….
“Okay….Great work, I’m on my way.”
“What’s going on?”
“They found McGiver’s car abandoned at a private airfield outside of town.”
“Alright let’s go.”
Meanwhile on the plane Nora begins to wake up. She looks around the room trying to break free from the fog in her head…She looks over at the couch and sees Matthew still asleep. She looks over at Madison’s carrier and notices that it’s empty. She tries to pull herself up out of bed but falls to the ground. She reaches out and grabs her ankle; which was swollen and already discolored. She must’ve hurt it when she was fighting off Troy but she couldn’t remember. She crawled over to Matthew and checked to make sure he was still breathing….
“Thank you, God”, she whispered as she kissed his forehead. “Mommy will be right back sweetie I need to check on your sister.”
She made her way over to the door and pulled herself up on the door handle. She tried to turn it but it was locked. She could hear Madison’s cries from the other side of the door.
Pounding on the door, “Troy, open this door. Bring me my baby, Troy.
Starting to cry, “Mommy, mommy where are you?”
Crawling back over to him, “I’m right here, baby. I’m right here.”
“Where are we? Where’s daddy?”
“We’re on an airplane.”
“With Dr. Troy.”
“Yeah, baby, with Dr. Troy.”
“Why did Dr. Troy come in my room and give me a shot?”
“I don’t want you to worry about Dr. Troy, okay. Mommy will handle him. Just go back to sleep. I’m going to go check on Madison. Just lie here quietly, okay?”
“Mommy, are we ever going to see daddy again?”
“You bet we will. You’re dad is never going to stop until he finds us, you got that. I promise we’ll see daddy soon.”
“Okay, mommy. (pauses for a moment) Mommy, I’m going to go to sleep now.”
Fighting back the tears, “Okay, baby. You sleep.”
Nora was slowly making her way back over to the door when she heard the door unlock. She braced herself against the bed and pulled herself up. She sat down on the bed giving into the pain as he walked through the door carrying a crying Madison…
Nora reaches out and takes the crying baby from him. Madison settles against her mother’s chest….
Looking up at Colin’s smug face, still thinking it’s Troy, “She’s hungry Troy, and I’m the only one who can feed her so if you don’t mind”
“No I don’t mind at all, (pauses for a moment to make his point) Scarlet…”
Snaps her head up and looks at him, the fear evident on her face, “Wh—what did you just call me?”
“Surprise! Did you miss me, Nora?”
“But—but you’re, you’re dead. I—I killed you that night….at your house.”
“No actually, you only thought you did. It was my brother’s body that Sam buried that night”…(walks over to her and kneels down in front of her and Madison) Running his hands across Madison’s cheek. “Our daughter is hungry, Scarlet. Why don’t you feed her while I go and get you and our son something to eat? We’ll talk later.”
“They are not your children, Colin. They’re Bo’s and nothing you say or do will ever change that.”
Squeezing her arm, causing tears to come to her eyes, “We will be a family, Nora. That I guarantee you.”
He lets go of her arm and grabs the back of her neck pulling her into a kiss. He breaks the kiss and then stands up and walks out the door; locking it behind him.
Nora lays Madison down on the bed beside her as she unbuttons her shirt; her hands trembling; her stomach queasy with fear and the feeling of Colin’s lips on hers. She picks Madison back up and begins to feed her. She looks over at the closed door and whispers.
“Over my dead body, Colin, you’ll have to kill me before I let you hurt my children.”