| Chapter 37 |
| Justin leaned his head against the wall with a loud thunk. He looked around the dining hall he was now sitting in and his eyes finally focused on the rain that was coming down out the window. The weather had cleared up enough for them to be flown back down to Boston but it was still raining. He sighed as he picked up his cell and began dialing the numbers to Mackenzie's dad. This was something that Justin had to do. The police were doing everything they could do independently but they thought it might be best if the media could help. A major press conference was called and just about every reporter from every magazine was expected to be there. Justin couldn't imagine Mackenzie's dad finding out that his daughter was missing through the news. If anything, the Hope's should have been called sooner and even though Justin was dreading to call he had volunteered to do so. With Nick by his side Justin pressed send on Nick's cell phone and chewed his finger until a soft voice answered. "Hello? Who is this please?" Said Mackenzie's baby sister Victoria in her young voice. "Hello, Tori. It's Justin, Mackenzie's friend. Can I please talk to your dad?" He said trying to keep his voice steady. "DAAAAAAAAAAAAAADDDDDDDD!" she yelled as Justin pulled the phone away from his ear. He heard a few static noises and heard another voice. "Hello?" said Mackenzie's step mom, Megan, said. "Hello, Mrs. Hope. It's Justin...can I...can I talk to Mr. Hope?" he choked on his words but finally cleared his throat. There was no way he could tell Megan before telling her dad. "Well, hello sweetie! Let me go get him. How are you?" she asked "I'm...I've...been better." he said finally. "You'll have to hold on a minute, Justin. Charlie's on the phone right now. Would you like to wait or he can call you back when he's off?" She said sweetly. "I'll...hold. Could you please...please tell him it's important." Justin said as he rubbed his eyes. "Is something wrong?" she asked "Yes." Justin said quietly, "Please, Megan, tell him I need to talk to him." Justin said his voice filled with emotion. In less than 15 seconds Justin heard the phone being shuffled around in the background and knew that Mr. Hope was coming on the phone. "Hello?" said Mackenzie's dad in an uncertain voice. "Hi, Mr. Hope. It's Justin...." "I know, what's wrong, Justin? Did something happen? Is Mackenzie there?" he said with panic in his voice. This was not the he wanted to start the conversation. He looked over at Nick who was now talking to a few people across the room and then refocused his concentration on talking to Mr. Hope. "Mr. Hope, I don't know how to say this but Mackenzie is...well...she umm...she's gone, sir." Justin said as his eyes started to water. "What?!" Mr. Hope yelled. Justin took a deep breath and explained everything in full detail. Justin knew that it would be painful to retell the events that took place but hearing Mr. Hope respond was nothing like Justin had ever heard in his life. |
| About forty-five minutes later Justin left the room feeling even worse than he had before. Justin had turned on the TV but almost every channel was showing the press conference that was taking place down the hall. He and the guys had all decided that it would be best if they didn't go to the conference. He opened the door to his room and flopped down on the bed. Thinking about Mackenzie's family made him get even more choked up than before. Mr. Hope was probably already on his way to Boston by now and he could only imagine what it felt like to know his daughter was missing. "Think, Justin. Think." Mackenzie voice kept replaying over and over in his head like he had heard her say the words before. The police were doing everything they could to find her but Justin knew that it was up to him now. Mackenzie was somewhere that Justin had to know about or else Mackenzie wouldn't have given him such a vague thing to say. Justin stood in front of the mirror and looked at his reflection. The feeling over helplessness came over him again. He looked around the room and something caught his eye on the night table beside his bed. The light on his cell phone was flashing indicating that some one had called. Looking at the caller id Justin didn't recognize the number or the name. He was about to delete the number when he noticed that the caller had left a message. Sitting down on the bed he placed the phone up to his ear and listened to the message. At first there was nothing but noises coming from the background. He could hear voices in the background but he couldn't make anything out. "What the h..." then it hit him. He quickly turned up the volume on his phone and listened to the voices. "Mackenzie!" Justin yelled into the phone even though he knew it was a message. "Get off of me!" Justin heard her yell. "You put up quite a fight there, Mackenzie." a voice said as Justin tried to recognize it. "To scared to look at me, are you? Giving up so easily? Surely you have some fight in you left." Justin kept the phone up to his ear as he walked down the hallway in search of Nick. He saw Nick at the end of the hall and motioned to him to come over still listening to the message with great determination to figure out who was with her. "Justin? What is it?" Nick said quietly because he thought Justin might have been on the phone. "Mackenzie...she must have tried to call. It's a message of her and some one...I can't figure out who is with her. Damnit!" As Justin yelled he punched the wall causing a few others to gather around. "Justin?" JC said as he came over But Justin silenced them all, "Jeff." Mackenzie said clearly and that was all Justin needed to hear. "That BASTARD! That fucking asshole! When I find him..." "JUSTIN! Justin, who?" Jeff yelled taking the phone from him as members of the police gathered. "Guys," Justin said in a softer voice, "It was...Jeff. All this time...it was...him." "What? Are you sure?" Lance said "Listen to the message." Justin said pointing to the phone that Nick was now holding. "That fucking asshole! I'm going to kill him!" Justin yelled through his anger and frustration. "He called me earlier...he was the ass that called ME!" "Justin, guys, downstairs. Meet me there in a minute." he said Joey, Lance, JC, Chris, and Justin all walked unwillingly over to the elevator. "We need to think of where she is." Joey said "Well, no shit, Joey." Justin said cockily "Hey, man, I'm trying to help!" Joey yelled "Guys! GUYS!" JC yelled over them, "We all are trying to do everything we can and we are all angry that this is happening but we can not take it out on each other. Got that. We've got to put our heads together and think of every and any place Jeff would go." In about 5 minutes they were all seated in the dining area brainstorming on places where Mackenzie might be. "Guys, I know where she is. I know I do! I just...can't think of it. Mackenzie told me to think. She wouldn't have said that if she was in some place in the middle of no where." Nick came down a few minutes after that and with a tape player in one hand and a map in the other. They listened the the message which went on for about 5 minutes and there was no doubt in anyone's mind that it was Jeff. The message cut off right as Jeff began to call Justin the second time with the voice desguiser. "Ok, now...the police figure that she in somewhere within a 3 hour radius. Any ideas?" "That's what we were just trying to figure out." Justin said sighing "They have to be some where that's secluded." Chris said, " I doubt they are going to be anywhere that has a lot of other houses near it. Jeff is like a fricken computer genius. I asked him to help me with my lap top once and it was fixed about 2 hours later. He probably used that to find out personal things about her...places she's been...people she knows...things like that." For the first time in almost 24 hours Justin thought about the dream he had. "Guys, I had a dream last night and Mackenzie was in it and she was telling me to....to think....just like she told me to do when we were on the phone today!" Justin said with the facts coming together. "I know where she is guys. She's at her Mom's house. She used to talk about it all the time...her mom used to live there and she would visit her in the summer...She's there guys...I just have this feeling that she's there!" |