HE

HE
  When the bottle arrived, it came in a small, brown cardboard box, no name of the sender, I stared at the almost empty bottle of wine, 
“Who the fuck sends a half drunk bottle of wine, straight to your house? Going as far as using express delivery?” Clay questioned, staying up all night manually combing through maps on the triangulated area was starting to get to him.
 “Maybe it was delivered as a joke or an accident?” Joanne says sipping her third cup of coffee. She seemed to have calmed down, she gave me hell when she heard the entire thing, she had even promised to kill me if we don’t find her.
“How do you accidentally package a bottle?  It was packed with care so it doesn’t break. What kind of idiot uses this as a joke?” Clay was very irritable at the moment, very soon he was going to start stinging people.
 “My brother’s kind.” I say immediately I figured it out, I rush to the box it came in, the address was the same place he had asked me to drop him off.
“That sonofabitch.” I cuss as I find my jacket.
“What? Did Richard send it??”
Both of them follow me as I speed walk to my car, and scanning the navigation system, it was the same address.
 “Richard knew where she was, made me drop him off there, he is once again, playing with me.” I say as I turn the car, I imagine the laughs he had when he watched me drive away from the very person I was looking for. He was like his father sometimes, he sought amusement in other people’s frustration.
 “That sick bastard.” Clay muttered under his breath.
The car pulled to the front of the hotel, and I remember his knowing smirk when he asked me to drop him off right there, anger shooting through my veins. My only comfort was knowing that she was safe.
 When we reach the lobby, Joanne did the talking, explaining to the uniformed boy that we were here to surprise our friend for her birthday, and that the cake was coming later, I look away from them and study the place for cameras, I find one pointing directly at the elevator, and one that had a wide range of the entire lobby, good.
 By the time we had the room number and rode the elevator upstairs, I was antsy, yes I needed to see her, I missed her terribly, but would she be glad to see me? The betrayed look in her eyes still made me flinch, even now.
 “We are here.” Joanne muttered, looking at me, at least her eyes were kinder this time.
Clenching and unclenching my fist, I take a deep breath before knocking once, and then twice, we collectively hold our breaths and wait, but only silence echoes. I am about to knock again when the door opens a crack, it was not shut all the way.
 Swallowing, I push the door wider, ignoring the feeling in my gut that tells me I have been played by Richard again. Stepping inside I am immediately hit with the scent of her, she was definitely here, my eyes shut on it’s own, I had missed this, the feeling of her soft skin against mine when her scent fills the room, my eyes open when Joanne roughly pushes past me and into the room.
 “Rachel?”
Her eyes, like mine, scan the room, looking, searching for her, the bed was definitely slept in, evidence of the wine drunk in this very room, stared at me in the face, two wine glasses stained with remnants, one had lipstick stain and the other didn’t, from how empty the bottle was, it was obvious they drank a lot.
 I swallow my jealousy, trying not to think of what might have happened here last night. Joanne returns from the bathroom, her fallen expression tells me all that I need to know, they were here last night and now they had gone. Richard did this on purpose.
 “I knew he was a snake, but this, this is too much.” Joanne says, running her hand through her hair.
I know what he was doing, he was playing a game, he was constantly playing his father’s games, so when he wasn’t playing he invented his own games, he had to play games all the time, and this time he chose to raise the stakes.
 There was a knock on the door, all three of us look at each other, my hand inched towards the door, but the person already realized it wasn’t shut all the way, so they match in.
 “Delivery.”
Another clue, as expected of Richard Kersher. When I take it, it is the same small, brown box, no name of the sender, just the address of where it came from, a clothing store, tearing open the box, I find the clothes she had worn yesterday, the clothes she wore before driving away, I pull the clothes to me, but they are void of her warmth.
 “This is the sickest thing I have ever witnessed.” Joanne whispered.
There was no time to waste, maybe we could still catch them at the department store, or maybe I was playing his games the way he expects me to, other times I would not play, I wouldn’t even care, but not when Rachel was involved.
 “Can I see the security footage from last night?” I ask the front desk person, pointing at the cameras.
My tone must have changed, he had the same look of terror everyone I tortured had even before we started.
 “You would have to speak with the security team.” he says, in a hurry to get the words out.
I knew it would take even longer, and they could leave the store at any moment, so I rush to my car instead.
 “Both of their phones are still turned off.” Clay says as I press down hard on the accelerator.
Swallowing my thoughts and anger, I try to stay calm, from the games we played when his father invented, I know the key to solving them was to think rationally.
 “They had to get clothes, which would mean they don’t intend to return any time soon.” I say even if it hurt me to.
Both of them say nothing in response. 
The clothing store was a bust, they were gone, we don’t say it, but we were waiting for the next clue, Richard had succeeded in making us dance to his tunes, if he were here, he would grin and say, I win.
 “I hate your brother.” Joanne says, her voice laced with venom.
This time I wait for the procedures to check the security footage, simply because I don’t know where to go from here, if he doesn’t drop the next hint, I would be back to square one.
  I also, hated my brother.