Chapter 54: Pictures and Answers

POV: Gabby

Word Count: 3591

November 9, 2009

We’d gotten up rather early and he fixed breakfast for us. We were just sitting at the table wondering what to do when he got a text and then giggled.

“Sierra is not happy with me or you.”

I smiled. “I sent her a few pictures yesterday and all I got in reply is where is my belly picture.”

“You said you wanted to do some nude ones, we can do them here and we have a few hours before the detectives appear.”

“You kidding me?”

“Nope.”

I finished the piece of bacon and looked at him. “Exactly where do we do these?”

“I’d say the bedroom and I have an idea…”

He was done so he dropped the plate off at the sink and then he was gone. Clearly, his idea required some form of prep work, so I just sat here and finished eating my breakfast. He was up-stairs for about thirty minutes before he called for me and I put my plate in the sink and headed up, stairs were a fucking chore right now though so I was usually slower. I figured he would use our bedroom but nope, he directed me to the spare room that as of yet, had anything in it. Except this time it did.

“When did we get black sheets?”

“I got them for the air mattress, which is what’s under them.”

“I figured as much, so you just tacked a new sheet to the wall?”

“Not really, I covered the window with it so I used the curtain rod.”

“You really want the black background?”

“Yep. Honey you’d just blend in with white.”

“Careful there…you’ll be sleeping in here.”

He just smiled and went and got the camera. The air mattress was a little iffy at first but once I got use to how it moved it was easier. People knew Taylor was a shutterbug, Zac was a hidden shutterbug. But, the two hours he spent moving me around and getting pictures would be worth it. By the time he was done I had just enough time to get dressed and grab a quick snack before the detectives were knocking. He let them in and did the civil duties of offering drinks and snacks, which water is all they accepted. He then got settled in the living room and I finally joined them after finishing my snack.

“Doesn’t look like you have much longer.” Myers said.

“Four more weeks.” I said.

“Not much longer. Are you okay to talk about all this or would you rather step out?”

“I’ll be fine and if things get too tense then I can step out.”

“Okay. We’ve spent the better part of the last few days just talking to Mr. Jones. He’s been very forthcoming and cooperative, I believe he is aware that he’s done some highly illegal things and that cooperation is his best chance of not being sentenced to die.”

“Or he’s hoping that he’ll be given hardly any time.” Zac said.

“He has no chance of that happening honestly, he’s confessed to a lot of things.”

“Such as?” Zac asked.

“You’re sister-in-laws bookstore, Gabby told us then she suspected that it was Simon and ultimately it was ruled accidental. It wasn’t an accident, he split the pipe outside that eventually lead to the fire. He did indicate that he was hoping no one would be inside.”

“Why?” Zac asked.

“He wanted to get her attention, when that didn’t work he went to Nicole’s. Ironically that neither of those were ever linked to him, therefore her attention wasn’t gotten. He reverted to other tactics after that.”

“He destroyed her apartment to get my attention? That makes no sense, he was one of Zac’s friends why not just drop by and talk to us?”

“He doesn’t understand how you can’t know him.”

“Do I know him? You said you could verify the story.”

Up until now Detective Myers had been fairly quiet, Mabis had been explaining and he’d only asked how much longer and then grew quiet.

He got something from his briefcase, a photo in a clear evidence bag.

“He gave us the name and location of the tattoo shop, we kept telling him you didn’t know him and he was very insistent you did.”

Zac picked it up and we both looked at it and I just stared at this photo.

“Is that really you?” Zac asked.

“Unfortunately, yes. Is that…”

“Marcus Jones, yes.”

I was actually sitting in his lap, long black hair and by then I was fond of the whole Goth look. Miniskirts, mid-riff bearing shirts, black boots. He had the same style on, black pants with chains, black shirt and a leather jacket.

“The tattoo artist took the photo before he did the tattoo of the owl, he said he remembered because he didn’t really want an owl, he wanted something tougher. But he let you choose it and that’s what you picked out. The artist said you were very shy when you told him where you wanted it. He scaled it down as much as possible without losing the details.”

“Why take the picture?”

Detective Myers looked at me. “He wanted one of you alone, but he knew Marcus wouldn’t allow it so he didn’t ask. He took this one and he took one of you that Marcus didn’t see.”

The second one I was sitting in a chair, watching, I could also tell I was very high in that picture.

“When were these taken?”

“March, 2003. The same artist did the Chinese symbols and flowers, but he did them this year.”

“2003, that was after Newton and Tera. There isn’t much I remember about those years.”

“He said the two of you used a lot then and you’ve been adamant about not remembering much.”

“These pictures don’t even jog much, I don’t remember him at all. I don’t remember picking the tattoo or any reason why I would.”

“He remembered you. You left in June of 2003, he claimed after you got married but there is no proof that ever happened. He told Zac it was after he asked.”

“I was very anti-commitment then. Maxwell and Newton had both hurt me pretty deeply and then I was confused about Sierra and afraid. I ran from Sierra because she said she loved me and it’s probably what I done then too. I didn’t even consider relationships until Simon.”

“He looked for you, but he never knew your first name, when you both showed up at the New Year’s party he wasn’t sure it was you, it wasn’t until a few months later he was sure. Pictures of you with Newton were tweeted and he saw them, black hair and the same look. You never disputed them so he took them as being you. Then he started investigating.”

Apparently Marcus hadn’t known much, he backtracked only to himself and then stopped. Because he didn’t know about those spiders until recently.

“In Mr. Barnes confession he admitted that Maxwell Reed was suppose to bring you to him in March, when he attacked you. He wasn’t supposed to hurt you, these were pages we did not send you. As we stopped them right after you left.”

“I figured you didn’t send the full thing. I saw the number of pages and there were dozens, you didn’t send that many to me.”

“Did Marcus say why he killed Maxwell?” Zac asked.

“Because he hurt her in March. He didn’t see the bruises but Lucas James told him about the bruises on her side and who done it.”

“He knew because he was at the set up for Taylor’s party and saw them himself, he thought Zac did it actually.”

“Yes. We reviews Heather’s video footage and Marcus was there at the party, but not before. He was invited to the party and he was the one that followed you. He admitted to sitting outside the door but he said if he had known that you would get pregnant then he would have found some way to interfere. He just seethed outside instead.”

“Seethed?” I asked.

“His words exactly. He seethed outside the room because he could hear you both.”

“I’ll assume that Marcus works for or with a stripping company?” I asked.

“Yes. Global Male Review, the same company Heather used for both of your sister in law’s party. We contacted them and they said Marcus requested to work both of them and it was granted. They also travel so he was in Maine and Oklahoma City, which explains why some packages weren’t mailed from Tulsa.”

“He also confessed to being outside your old place and hearing you have sex back in May.”

That felt really creepy to me, this guy hearing us. The fact that he seemed to be there but we never really saw him!

“What about Simon Barnes? Was he responsible?” I asked.

They both exchanged glances and then looked at Zac, permission to speak about it and he nodded.

“Is it possible that we tell Zac first and he can tone it down? I wouldn’t want you to be too upset.”

“I’ll be fine detective. I know it’s horrible.”

“He confessed to the killing of Mr. Barnes as well. He mailed the confession and the photos to you as proof that you didn’t have to worry about him. He was hoping you’d take it as like a peace offering and would be grateful. The confession aspect was recorded and he then translated it, the torture methods were beatings, fire, whatever he thought would work. That was drawn out for days, by the time you got the package, Mr. Barnes had been dead for two weeks.

“How long was he with Simon?”

“A while. We knew that Mr. Barnes was tortured we didn’t know the duration or the exact methods because of how the body was. He’s filled in any missing gaps. He was there over a week and after removing a foot or hand, he’d use hot irons to stop the bleeding. We haven’t found the irons yet.”

I had always wished Simon would get some kind of karma, but it was more along the lines that some girl would stand up and have the courage and strength I never had to fight back. That she’d hurt him somehow and he’d learn some major lesson. I didn’t want some lunatic to torture him for days because of what he did to me.

“How did he know about Simon?” I asked.

“Mr. James. When you moved you mentioned him and that he wasn’t nice to you. Lucas mentioned it and Marcus kind of took it upon himself to figure out what he done. Max had given him some indication that Simon’s methods weren’t all that good, but he didn’t fully understand until he tortured him.”

They took a break allowing me a bathroom break and to calm down, it seemed my hunch about Lucas was right, he had to have helped somehow. When we sat back down I asked about his involvement, he had to be involved somehow!

“What about Lucas? He had to be involved in this somehow. Marcus was barely around us that much and I don’t remember telling him much of anything.”

“We have no indication that beyond telling Marcus about some things like Max and Simon, that he was involved either in the packages, notes, or the murders.”

“But, he was at the apartments and it’s the only way someone could have gotten the photos of Sierra and I. They were on my laptop and Lucas was there alone, with the laptop.”

“We looked into that and talked to Mr. James. He admits to being there at the apartment alone. What he said was he took a TV down to his car, got a call from a client who was having trouble arming her new system and he sat in his car for thirty to forty minutes before going back up. He didn’t lock the apartment door and couldn’t see it.”

“He is friends with Marcus.” I stated.

“Yes. But we contacted the woman and she confirmed his story. He was on the phone with her for forty minutes or longer, she heard nothing in the background and remembered he even volunteered to come over. Marcus insisted he went inside without Lucas there.”

“He admitted going inside? Did he post the pictures?” Zac asked.

“Yes. He was going to bug the laptop but Lucas was coming in and he couldn’t, so he just e-mailed the images to himself. We have his computers and things so we are going through. He admitted to posting them also and said that Max told him about the date. It’s why he chose then. He also said that he took several pairs of underwear and put a dress into one of the boxes.”

“Bastard. Lucas told me about something Zac said when they were alone and Marcus wasn’t around, he was trying to break us up.”

“About key cards, right?”

“Yes.” I said.

“Lucas said that Marcus told him about you and him from way back then. Lucas said he wasn’t sure about Zac and told you what he said. We are confident that Mr. James isn’t involved, but we will make damn sure he wasn’t involved before we completely clear him. We will need to look through the computers and stuff, if we find any connection we will arrest him.”

I just sat there, Marcus had been around but he’d never acted weird or odd, Lucas had. He’d asked about the thongs, acted weird and odd around me.

“I still believe Lucas is involved somehow.”

“We are going to keep investigating and if we can find any link we’ll let you know. But, as of right now we don’t see any reason for you to worry about Lucas.”

“Did he bug the house?”

“Yes. He was responsible and it’s also why his next target was Jacob Frost and your biological parents.”

“My what?” I asked.

“You’re real parents, he was planning to kill them.”

“For what?”

“He heard a conversation you had with your brother about them, he said you got super upset with him and then he told you how they planned to let you both die.”

I blinked. How long had his little bugs been in place?!

“But he didn’t?” Zac asked.

“No. He saw this as a chance to get her and she’s more important.”

“He wouldn’t hurt the baby, he said she was part of me.”

There was a look that passed through the three men in this room, and they looked confused.

“He told me she was part of me and he couldn’t hurt her.”

“I assume you didn’t quite tell her everything he said?” Detective Mabis asked.

“Right.” Zac said.

“What did he say?”

“I didn’t really go ballistic until he mentioned killing her and blaming me.”

I blinked at him. “You didn’t say anything about that.”

“Can you blame me Gabby? I didn’t want to tell you his plan was to kill our baby.”

“Was that his plan?” She asked.

“Yes. He was going to wait until you were asleep or gone. His aim was to make it seem like Zac done it. His goal there was for you to leave Zac.”

I sat quietly for a moment, shifted a bit to move her too. “Well, he would have failed.”

“Would he?” Zac asked.

I looked at him. “Come on Zachary, we both know what would have happened. The first overdose may not have been completely intentional, but the second one would have. I’d also make sure it was done right. I wouldn’t be able to live through losing her after she’s born and then to think you done it? I wouldn’t have left or divorced you, but we both know I wouldn’t be alive to do so.”

“Which is why he won’t be doing anything but spending time in jail.” Detective Mabis said.

“Agreed.” Myers said.

“Is there anything else?” I asked.

“He asked to meet with you alone, but we’ve denied that request.”

“Why?” I asked.

“We don’t believe you should see him in person. It’s possible that he wants to upset you. We’d like to avoid that.”

“Agreed. There is no telling what he’d say to you right now.” Zac said.

“I’ll pass anyway. Maybe when I’m sure Lucas didn’t help.”

With nothing left to fill us in on they said their goodbyes and left. I got the camera and went to the art room, I had time and this would keep my mind off the inevitable.

“You don’t remember anything do you?”

“I wish I did, might would help explain things. I remember dating some guy, but I don’t remember anything specific.”

“What are you doing?”

“Going through what you took.”

He got a chair and sat down with me and we went through the pictures he had taken, I didn’t think I’d like any of them honestly, but I was finding that his version of nude really wasn’t pornographic. It really was kind of artistic and they were pictures I liked a lot.

“I think I’m glad you did these.” I said.

“Me too.”

We selected one of me sitting crossed legged on the center of the bed, he’d arranged my hair to cover up most of each breast and had placed my hands below which shielded whatever might be seen, with my head down it was the perfect picture.

“Sierra?” He asked.

“I was thinking either this one or the one of me laying down, you took it from the head of the bed.”

He laid his head on my shoulder. “Send her both.”

“Two?” I asked.

“She loves you Gabby, she doesn’t want to admit that to you but she does. She’s happy for you and it’s all she wants. I can’t complain she’s taken care of you for over a month. Had she been here last week she would have stomped his ass too.”

I sent them both to the printer and let them print in high quality, love the new printer I’d gotten. Both came out amazingly perfect and I let them dry while he put shoes on me. Denver had been warm, Tulsa wasn’t too bad though, just above 70 but it felt colder. Once the ink was dry I framed them, wrapped them and we headed to their apartment. They were both home and let us inside.

“I didn’t expect you.” Sierra said.

“The detectives left early and we wanted to bring something over to you.”

“Oh? A present? Besides yourself that is.”

There was a few moments where she had to talk to her and in my view, pet her. It was weird that I didn’t totally mind her but I did most everyone else.

We finally made it to sit down and I handed her the two items. Sierra was a careful unwrapper so it felt like it took forever and the first one she had unwrapped was the one of me laying down.

“I…um…are you sure this was mine?” She asked.

“Yes, I am sure that one is yours.”

She blinked and Heather slid over. “Oh, that’s definitely a bedroom picture.”

“Yes, it is.” Sierra said.

She laid it down and probably assumed the other one was something we’d taken while in Denver, I’d shared several after all. Yet, again she just sat there staring at it.

“You’re um…You um…”

“I’m naked, go ahead and say it.”

“Yeah..I just..I don’t..”

“You kept asking for the bare belly ones and Zac brought up nudes. I wasn’t sure about either. But he took them this morning and after they left I looked through them. Those were the best two.”

I nudged her leg to get her to look up at me.

“You’re the only one that gets those. So, like…don’t go bragging.”

She smiled and I swear there were tears in her eyes. “Thank you.”

“You’re welcome.”

I didn’t expect the hug but I’d take it anyway.

“You’re okay with this? It wasn’t a I’m not going to argue because she’s preggy thing?”

“No. I told her to send them both and come on, I got to take them, think I’m going to complain?”

“Nope. But you owe me a damn peacock picture too.”

He just smiled. “I think he doesn’t want to share those…”

“He promised me one. I shall nag until I get it.”

Heather just rolled her eyes. “Hey, I’ve wanted a nude drawing for a long time. You can suffer with me.”

That was laughable and we stayed here for a little while. Sierra actually made dinner for us and after some talking afterwards we headed home. We had to pack and plan for the trip to the city, he had the hotel already for Thursday night as we were coming home Friday.

“You see the doctor this week and then it’ll be weekly or two weeks?”

“Weekly, until either I go in or they induce.”

“So, we’ll see them every week then until she’s here?”

“Yep.”

“I concur, after she’s here I don’t want to see a doctor.”

I giggled and crawled into bed. “Then we get to see them every few months for her.”

He groaned and laid back, I’d kill to sleep on my back…but as it was I couldn’t. Instead I curled up beside him, who needed a body pillow when I had him? As it was I could fall asleep quicker and tonight was no different.

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