Chapter Fifty Eight

“Karen?! Are you there? Hello?”

Jenn stared at her cell in confusion until it registered with her that the phone was lifeless.

“Well fuck!”

Swearing in annoyance she flung it onto the soft bench beside her. What the hell else could go wrong today? From her corner of the bar she grumpily surveyed the scene. She had moved from her position at the bar counter when the place had started to fill up with customers who gave her funny looks as they’d entered. Obviously locals who weren’t used to seeing a stranger in their watering hole. She had wiled the past couple of hours away lost quietly in thoughts about her past, present and indeed her future. When she couldn’t take anymore reasoning with herself she had dialled Karen’s number. True to form, her best friend had been as dramatic as ever exclaiming and swearing down the phone as Jenn had filled her in on the morning’s events.

Just as she had been about to divulge where she was calling her from the battery had died. Sitting back she thought about her friends last words of advice to her.

Trust your heart Jenn, if it’s meant to be then it’s meant to be – go with it honey.

It was as if she had just needed that little bit of external affirmativeness to drill home what she already knew. Divorce or no divorce, whatever way this was gonna turn out she wasn’t going to regret it. Not a bit of it, life was far too short, of that she was sure.

Getting to her feet a little unsteadily, she grabbed her coat and defunct phone from the seat beside her and drained the last of her beer. Ignoring the stares from the collection of greasy men sitting at the bar and tables she threaded her way amongst them to find the door. The dark night that greeted her took her by surprise as she pulled on her coat. Crap! What time is it? Without her phone she had no idea but judging by the quiet street and lack of traffic it was late. She had never intended to stay out this long, Paul was probably going nuts! She was in no state to drive but with no phone she had no numbers to call anyone. Weighing up her options she decided the best course of action was to get back to her car, she was pretty sure there was some kind of headed paper in it somewhere with the farm’s contact details. She’d find a pay phone then and call Paul to come get her – simple!

Pleased with her rational thinking as she wobbled off down the dimly lit sidewalk, her breath hung frozen in the air before her with every step she took. It was freezing hard, she could feel her boots slip along the untreated pavement on a thin layer of frost. Shoving her hands as deep into her pockets as she could, she kept her chin tucked into her chest in an effort to keep out the biting cold. Her head, somewhat fuzzy from all the beer she’d consumed over the course of the afternoon seemed to be the only warm part of her body.

Ten minutes later she rounded the corner onto the lot where she had left the car, or at least where she thought she’d left it. There was no boarded up gas station and definitely no car. Whipping around she frantically looked all around her. She was in unfamiliar territory; there was nothing at all that she recognised. Panic rose in her throat as she pushed forwards, maybe she just hadn’t gone far enough. Another five minutes and she knew she was in trouble, every step was taking her further down streets with boarded up doors and iron grilled windows.

Spotting a group of people up ahead she breathed a sigh of relief, at least they could tell her where she was. Approaching them, her heart leaped as the group of youths turned to look at her. Hooded with scarves covering most of their faces, they made a menacing sight. These were not the people for a woman, lost in a strange town on her own to ask for directions. Changing tactics, she sped up her pace to cross the street. Cat calls and whistles sent shivers down her spine and she bit her lip to stop a frightened whimper escaping from her throat. Keeping her eyes forward, she hurriedly walked to the bottom of the street, cutting around the first corner she came to. A sudden loud clatter made her stumble and cry out as she tripped over a collection of trash cans. Tears flew down her cheeks as she grabbed the wall to steady herself. She couldn’t ever remember feeling this scared before.

Breathless and cold, her blood pounded between her ears as she slumped down beside the one trash can she hadn’t upturned. She desperately needed help but she had no idea where it was going to come from. Heavy footsteps came into her hearing range to her right, scanning the darkness she held her breath, willing herself not to scream as they came closer.

~~~~~~~~~~

“Where the fuck is she??”

Jon was violently pacing the floor of Jenn’s living room, watched by Paul and Sue. He had spent the afternoon driving around but with no sign of her, he had come back presuming she had slipped in without anyone noticing.

“It’s been HOURS!” Running a hand through his hair, he stopped up short looking at them in despair.  “Something’s happened to her, she would have called by now!”

Paul, worry etched across his face lifted his arms in frustration. “The cops say they can’t do anything until somebody’s been missing for twenty four hours.”

“To hell with that!” Snarling Jon punched a few numbers on his cell and growled into it. “Yeah? Get me the Chief straight away!”

Sue looked worriedly from Jon to her husband, he was right, this wasn’t like Jenn. Paul placed a comforting arm around her trying to reassure her when in truth he was scared to death. The last time Jon had seen Jenn had been around midday which was about nine hours ago. When she had texted him to say she was okay it had been just after one pm, that was the last any of them had heard from her.

They both watched as Jon snapped orders down the phone. “I don’t care what you have to do, get as many cars out there as you have and find her dammit!”

A knock on the door had them all jumping to their feet in the hope that it was Jenn but instead Richie’s beanie clad head appeared. Jon spun around, hanging up the phone only for his face to fall as Richie greeted him grimly.

“Hey man, no news?”

“None.”

“Any luck with the cops?” Paul asked hopefully, his arm back around Sue.

“They’re on it now but we should get back out there. More of us looking the better.” Jon stared out the window at the darkness for a moment before turning to Sue, “Will you be alright here?”

“I’m fine; I should be here in case she comes back. Karla knows to keep Steph down with her; I think they were gonna watch a movie or something. It’s best Steph doesn’t know about any of this unless she has to.”

Nodding in agreement, Jon grabbed his car keys; “Rich you’re with me, Paul you’re gonna go east?”

“Yeah, I’ll check in with you after a while.” Bending over to give his wife a kiss and a quick squeeze he whispered in her ear, “Don’t worry, we’ll find her okay?”

She held onto his arm as Jon and Richie departed out the door, her eyes filled with concern, “I love you, stay safe.”

~~~~~~~~~

Cruising slowly through the suburbs, the two men silently scanned the empty streets. Light flakes of snow were beginning to fall gently from the night sky, fluttering onto the windshield in a hypnotising flurry.

“If something’s happened to her Rich, I’ll never forgive myself.” Jon gripped the steering wheel tightly, his eyes darting from side to side for any sign.

“We’ll find her Jon, she has to be somewhere.” Richie reassured him as best he could, sounding more confident than he felt. “Just stay positive.”

“How the fuck am I supposed to do that?” Jon snapped back at him, instantly regretting it. “Sorry Rich, I’m just…….” He trailed off, his words caught up in his throat.

“I know bro, I know…”

They both jumped as Jon’s cell rang loudly from the dash. Grabbing it, he nearly dropped it as he fumbled to hit the answer button.

“Yeah?…….WHERE?”

Richie had to put out a hand to stop himself from being flung forward as Jon stood on the brakes. Looking over to Jon, his stomach filled with dread as he saw the horror in his friend’s eyes. “What is it? Have they found her?”

Jon held the cell motionless in his hand as he stared back at him, his face ashen.

“They found her car……….there’s no sign of her Rich…….Jesus Christ……..it’s in the worst possible part of town!”