Jessica felt a stab of jealousy. Was Xavier still seeing his former girlfriend? The one he hated so much and claimed was crazy? Or maybe it was Sally trailing him after all. Whatever! She shouldn’t be worrying about that. She and Xavier were back to being friends, not lovers. Yet she asked herself why she was so bothered about his whereabouts. It was normal. She cared about him as a friend.
“No one is pleased to see that girl,” Rita said from where she was sitting, “Why is this happening right after she got out of that hospital?”
“Oh come on, Rita,” Jerome said and sat beside his daughter, pulling her into a hug, “It’s fine. We’ll find your brother but don’t be suspicious of poor Sally. The girl just came out of the asylum, and they wouldn’t have released her if she hadn’t shown signs of being okay.”
Vanessa came into the room. The woman didn’t look confident and cold today, considering her son was still missing. She, however, didn’t act like Jessica or Kendall was in the room.
“I’ve got the money. We need to save my son!” She cried and glared at her husband, expecting him to say something.
Jerome didn’t reply. It was Kendall who spoke, “It’s not going to be that easy, Mrs. Cage. The cops are still looking for him, and we’d advise you to wait for a few days before you give them the money. Just tell them you’re still trying to get the money. I believe they’ll hold Xavier long enough to have the money.”
Vanessa stared at him as though shocked that he was saying something like that, “They are going to kill my son, and you expect me to wait for the cops?”
Jerome quickly intervened, “I know what Kendall is trying to say. We are not so sure that if we give them what they are asking for, they won’t ask for more and not release Xavier. It would be better for the cops to find them.”
Vanessa rolled her eyes, “I see they are doing an excellent job.”
“Honey, it’s for the best.”
Jessica left when Vanessa started to cry. She didn’t know what to say to the woman who had never shown signs of liking her. As she sat in the cab, watching as buildings sped past, something kept nagging her in the back of her mind. It had something to do with the video.
She pulled her phone out, dialed Jerome Cage’s number and waited as it rang. The man picked it up at the fourth ring.
“Hello, Jessica.”
“Mr. Cage, please can I get to watch that video again? Send it to my phone. I think I might be able to get something, something we are all overlooking.”
“Sure.”
“And send Detective Kendall’s number too in case I find anything.”
Two minutes, Jessica was watching the video the abductors had sent for the second time. This time around, she focused her gaze on Xavier. What was he trying to tell them? The cops must have been preoccupied with trying to get anything in the background that might lead them to where they were keeping him or the masked man, hoping to catch something that would make them identify him.
While the abductor was talking, Jessica saw it. Xavier wasn’t looking at the camera anymore. He was nodding his head as though pointing to something that was… Between his legs! There it was! Xavier had his legs spread apart so that the metal chair could be revealed, and on the edge of the chair, he’d scribbled some letters.
Excited, Jessica paused the video and zoomed in on those letters. They were upside down and looked like he had written them in haste with a sharp object. Bringing out her pen and notepad, she wrote down the letters, arranged them, and realized they were spelling out a name.
Sally.
Chapter Five
It wasn’t difficult to find Sally Mayland’s house address. Jessica wondered what she was even doing there as she pressed the doorbell. Sally. That was the message Xavier was trying to pass across. Was Sally the woman who had the answers to where he was being kept? Did she know where he was going to that Thursday night?
The woman seemed surprised to see Jessica on her front porch. For a brief moment, she thought she saw fear in her eyes. Jessica could see the reason Xavier had been attracted to her. Sally Mayland was beautiful. The scar on her face didn’t even hide that fact.
“Hello, Miss. West,” Sally greeted politely.
Astonishingly, she knew who Jessica was. Pretending that she was happy to see her too, Jessica leaned on her cane and replied, “Miss. Mayland, I’m glad to see you, but I don’t believe we’ve met.”
She grinned, “I know you. Phoenix knows you,” Then her gaze fell on Jessica’s legs, “How’s the leg?”
“Healing. May I have a word with you, please?”
“Sure. Come in.”
Sally’s sitting room was stuffy. Two heavy traveling bags were on her sofa, and a heap of clothes could be found on the dining table as though she’d emptied her wardrobe on it. Maybe she was going somewhere, somewhere out of the city, and would be staying for a long time.
“Have your seat,” Sally offered and proceeded to shift one of the bags so Jessica could sit.
Her politeness was beginning to disturb her. Xavier had said she was crazy and not to be trusted, but looking at this lady in front of her, Jessica found it impossible to believe Sally was a psychopath. Imagine! She even had a jar of butterflies sitting on her mantelpiece. Yet she had heard stories of crazy people who acted friendly to other people and ended up hurting or murdering them. Jessica shifted uneasily and regretted not calling the detective as soon as she’d discovered Xavier’s message.
“So what brings you here, Miss. West?”
Jessica didn’t know how to begin. Her eyes fell on a pink book open on a stool, not far from the sofa. What had Xavier said about Sally? That she loved to write down her crimes in a pink diary. Sally seemed to follow her gaze, realizing that Jessica had seen the book. She walked to the stool, closed it, and turned to face Jessica, a fake smile on her face.
“You haven’t answered my question. What brings you here?”
“Ooh that,” Jessica said, pretending like she’d not heard her the first time, “I just wanted to know if you’ve heard from Xavier in a while.”
Sally thought for a while, “Nope.”
“Are you sure? Maybe he told…”
“He’s told me a lot about you,” Sally interrupted and pulled a cigarette from the pocket of her jeans.
It seemed like she was trying to evade Jessica’s question. She tried to feel comfortable watching Sally smoke. She hated being in the same room with someone who smoked. It only reminded her of her father before he became sick. That was a part of her life she had not told Xavier.
“Oh, really?”
Sally nodded and offered her the cigarette pack, “Do you care?”
“No, thanks. I don’t do that.”
“It’s okay,” She replied, chuckling as though Jessica had just cracked a joke, “He said you don’t smoke.”
Jessica tried to ignore the envy that was she was slightly feeling, “When did you guys get to talk?”
Sally shrugged, “When I got out of the facility.”
She was lying. Xavier had said he couldn’t stand the sight of her. Or maybe Xavier was the liar. Kendall had said he and Sally talked at the clubhouse on Wednesday night.