HE

HE
 The video of her trying on new clothes and excitedly showing them off to Richard as he gave his opinion, was playing in a loop, I had asked the workers for a copy of the security footage, initially, they refused, thankfully, there was nothing money could not buy.
 “The other cameras only capture them walking around, there is no telling where they went to after the mall, he avoided all of the cameras after that.” Clay sighs, sinking deeper into the sofa.
 Joanne appears from the kitchen, carrying mugs of sloshing coffee, she didn’t bring me one, she passes one mug to Clay and sits as far away from me as she could, like what Rachel was doing.
 “I can’t believe I didn’t mean anything more than being your friend, to her, I mean she thinks I would give you her location, that is the reason she hasn’t contacted me, or she believes I was in on the lies as well.” Joanne murmured, her eyes unlike her voice, were hard, I could feel the physical weight as she glared at me. To think she used to be scared of me.
 “I don’t think Richard is sending any more clues.” I say finally, they both turn to look at me, their weary eyes filled with alarm.
“If he paused with the clues, it only means he was going to do something with a bang, that is how his brain works.”
“What kind of bang? Come to think of it, why is he with her? why is he sending all these clues? He knows you only want to make sure she is fine, so why is he toying with you?” Clay fired his questions rapidly, his lawyer mode turned on.
 “When you put it like that, it sounds like he has kidnapped her for some sort of gratification, he does like to win doesn’t he?” Joanne says with wide eyes and a gasp.
“If they knew each other before now, it would have been relatively easy to gain her trust, if he is holding her prisoner because he wants to win against you, what is the game you are playing? How do you win? And what kind of bang are we expecting?” Joanne rapid fires her questions, I guess spending a lot of time with a lawyer can turn you into one.
“Other angle could be that he is in love with her, if he knew her before, it would make sense that he was in love with her, and coming back to find out she was married to his number one enemy, and when he found out they weren’t really married, he thought it was his chance.” Joanne says wide eyed.
 “That is an angle I had been considering and not speaking on, but it is highly plausible.”
 I rub my eyes with the heels of my palm, their assumptions churning at the base of my stomach and leaving a bad taste in my mouth. The last time I saw him, I know I hit a nerve with him, but it wasn’t enough for him to hold her hostage while playing a game of hide and seek. But it was also entirely possible he was in love with her. He did say he hated to see her cry. I felt something akin to jealousy rearing it’s head, but I remind myself that she was a client.
 “He would not kill her, would he??” Joanne says in a horrified whisper, her face was void of color and her expression had crumbled. She was jumping all the possibilities in a minute, my eyes fall on her cup.
“No, he would not hurt her, from the video, we saw she was happy, oblivious to his games, the person he intends to hurt is Ab, he knows how crappy Ab must be feeling.” Clay says before I say anything.
 Out of sight, out of mind was what I had been doing for the last few hours, I knew I had no right to, so I forced myself to think of her as a client I was asked to find, and so far it has only help put my brain on acceleration, but other than that, my body has seemed to shut down, I could not get it to do anything other than slip into shut down mode. Every little movement seemed like a chore to me now.
 Clay’s phone rings and he bolts up, forcing us to look at him, he places the phone against his ear, his face scrunched in concentration.
 “Uh huh, thank you very much... Carnival? Are you sure?... what kind... huh? Thank you very much. I am grateful.” 
“Who was that?”
He blinked as if trying to understand the call, 
“I had asked the workers at the clothing store to call me the second they remembered anything from the time they were there, and they remembered them discussing attending an event.”
 Joanne jumps, “As his plus one! I knew he was in love with her!”
 I clear my throat nosily, she turns to me with a sheepish expression, 
“They should have security cameras at such events, it might tell us where they went. We just have to find where the carnival thing was held.”
“It should be easy to find, how many carnivals can be held in one night.”
Spoke to soon, there were three different carnivals, but one was out of state, but Clay was certain about the address he copied, with no time to waste, we rush towards the garage. All three of us pausing when we see a person, trying and failing to walk in a straight line, obviously drunk out of their mind, walking towards us.
 “Abed! My brother!!”
I am not sure when or how I cover the distance between us, I wrap my hands around his collar, pulling him to my face until his drunken smile was at my eye level.
 “Where is she?”
I look past him, there was no one else in sight, no car in sight, he was wearing what he wore in the security footage, except for a missing shoe, and a missing Rachel.
 He laughs,
“Where is who? You have to be more specific than that?” 
He sounded so much like his father that I actually felt a chill run down my spine, 
 “You know who I am talking about.” I seethe, I could hear my jaw grinding, my teeth was pressed against the other, but I don’t care, he was wasted, which meant they had gone for this event, if she was as drunk as he was, and had no one by her side...
 He laughs, his eyes finding Joanne and Clay behind me,
“Oh hi Clay!”
Clay says nothing, i was getting impatient, she could be anywhere, anything could be happening.
“WHERE THE FUCK IS SHE?!”
He flinches, and then laughs, his eyes shut as he tilts his head backwards,
“Ask politely.”
I don’t register it until it had happened, the sound of a fist coming in contact with his jaw, and the fact that I had let go of him, I was seeing red, I had never harmed my brother, this would be the first time. He looked stunned even as he doubled backwards, shock fills his eyes, he quickly shakes it away, laughing.
 “I always wondered when you would swing, and what would make you swing, turns out it was her. And it hurt.” 
“Tell me where she is, or I am going to make you bleed from every pore on your body.”
He shivered, his smile slipping for a second, then he throws his arms open, looking up at the sky, he inhales.
“I don’t doubt that, but will you be okay? I am still your little brother.” He imitates the voice of a child the last part.
 “I don’t have a brother.”
His eyes snap to mine, hurt quickly filling them, he laughs, this time it is full of emotions I don’t understand.
 “Do you know how long I have waited for you say to that? How many tricks I pulled for you to say that? I prayed long and hard every day for that statement, but no! You had to go around acting like the big brother I never asked for, so thank you, thank you for saying that.”
 The words hit me square in the chest, I never knew that was how he felt, I never knew he hated me that much. I thought... I thought there was something for us after he finally broke free of his father, I assumed things would go back to the way they were.
 “I was jealous of you when you left father, very jealous, and then I thought, if I was the little brother he adored so much, why did he leave me here alone? Why did he leave me to fight with a monster all by myself?”
 I swallow, the guilt of leaving him there has been overwhelming for me since I was able to leave and he was still there.
 “Is that why you took her? The reason for this game?”
His face slipped into the mask I have come to hate, a wicked and evil grin plastered on his face, blood dripping from his gums from where I hit him,
 “You are still talking about her, I am telling you how I feel, but she is the one you are thinking about.” he laughs loud and long, I say nothing.
 The laugh dries on his lips, but his evil grin remains,
“What do we do? You won’t be seeing her ever again.”