Duskwood Mysteries

Part 33

I had quickly put all my belongings in my bag. Since I was headed home, I might as well drop my stuff and grab new ones. I walked outside to the car and put the bag in the trunk and slammed the trunk shut loudly. I did not notice Richy walk out right that moment, and glare at me, "Ok, someone is in a bad mood." I scowled at him. "Alright frowny. I'm driving." He said. "No way it's a long drive." I said. "Good, then it gives us time to talk and you to cool down." He said sitting at the driver's side. I grudgingly sat at the passenger's side. We were soon on our way. "Do you hate me?" Richy said. "What? That's ridiculous. I don't hate you. You are probably the only one who has been nice to me from the get-go without any ulterior motives." I said surprised that he thought that. "Wouldn't hurt for you to say that." Richy said giggling. I narrowed my eyes at him, "I'm just a bit mad with recent developments." "You mean the Johnson guy. You seem to be scared of him." He said. "I'm not scared of him. I'm just scared of how determined he is." I said. "What does that mean?" he asked.

"When I graduated from high school, I went on this impromptu trip with my friends without telling my dad, just because he wasn't home and wasn't available on call at the time, and we really had to leave. I thought I would call him once I got to the hotel. Little did I know, that dad told Johnson to find me. Johnson was at our hotel, minutes after we arrived, with the cops. He told me I either leave voluntarily, or he gets me and all my friends arrested for abetting in kidnapping. And this was when he was new at the firm. After that incident I am pretty sure dad had Johnson keep tabs on me all throughout my college. Johnson knows people and he can get anything done. Good people and bad people owe him enough to start a war at his beckoning." I said. "Yikes pretty sure you are exaggerating about the last part, but I see that he is a guy you don't want to mess with. Somehow I have a positive feeling that Johnson might be able to help us." He said. "He isn't going to help us until he knows everything." I said. "You know I realized that I hardly know anything about you and your family or your life before you got involved with us. Now I atleast know that you were a crazy teenager." He said. "I wasn't a crazy teenager. It was just something spontaneous ok? And there isn't a lot to tell about my life before meeting you guys. I had a normal childhood, went to school and college and I worked at a financial firm as an analyst." I said. "Analyst. Wow. So you are on leave now?" he asked. "Yeah, I had vacation days. Though I didn't expect to be spending it finding a missing person." I said. "Well on the plus side you met me. Isn't that a good thing?" he asked with a smirk.

I looked away, "That's debatable." "Are you bothered about Jake's accusations?" He asked. "Never in a million years I thought that Jake would think that I am the one hiding Hannah. But that's not the worst part. Call me selfish but what hurts the most is that everything Jake did or said to me was a lie, a way to check if I am a suspect. And he still thinks I am a suspect. Not to mention, he is blackmailing you as well. I mean who does that? I am so lost about what to say or do. I've reached a point where I feel I don't even want to try to justify anything anymore." I said. Richy didn't say anything. "You have nothing to say about my rant?" I asked. "I just wanted you to spill out everything. Hopefully, that makes you feel better." Richy said shrugging his shoulders. "Doesn't it seem odd that he let both of us go?" I asked. "I thought it was odd at first but then I feel that he is at a conflict. He wants to trust you, but he just can't oversee things that don't add up about you. Deep inside I feel that he does know that you are innocent, but his hands are tied because he wants to do everything to find Hannah." Richy said. "Even threaten us with a gun?" I asked sadly. "That was wrong. I agree to that. He could have handled things differently, though I think he is way past the line of understanding and evaluating things." Richy said. "I feel like I don't know him at all." I said. "You don't. Information is priceless for him and he is going to keep it that way. Hopefully, once Johnny sheds light on the matter, Jake should be back to normal." Richy said. "There is one thing though," I said. "What's that?" Richy asked. "Don't call him Johnny. He hates it." I said. "Duly noted." Richy said. "How is it that you look at the positive side of things always?" I asked. He smiled, "Do I do that?" "A lot. It is sometimes adorable but other times it is plain annoying," I responded. "So, I am adorable." Richy said. "See you did it right now." I said. He laughed.

We drove the whole way back with just one pit stop at a gas station where I took over the wheel. We were both functioning with limited sleep and the drive was getting extremely exhausting. After an hour of me driving, Richy decided to take a nap. I looked at my phone. I was hoping that I would receive a text from Jake probably checking up on us. But it seemed like my phone was taunting me. He doesn't need to be nice to you anymore. I had this thought that everything had been a tactic of his to gain information but I didn't believe it. What had Richy said? Must be hell of an actress. I didn't believe that Jake was a good actor to fake all that, but it started dawning on me that it was possible that maybe Jake was that good of an actor. After all what did I really know about him.

A few hours later I was driving into the familiar neighborhood. It was very comforting to be back. Richy hadn't slept for long as he wanted to keep me company, I guess. "God I can't believe you drove all by yourself to Duskwood." Richy groaned. "It didn't seem that far when I drove." I said. We were now in front of my house and I parked right on the street and got out. Richy got out too. We took our bags out from the trunk and proceeded towards the door where I unlocked it. "Fancy house." Richy said. "Yeah it belongs to my dad. I moved in a few months back. Was closer to work." I said. Richy nodded. We got inside the house. A wave of relief washed over me. It was good to be back home. I checked the time. We still had a few hours to meet Johnson. "Wow. Is this what I think it is?" Richy asked pointing to a helmet on the display cabinet. "Oh, that's my dad's collection." I said. "Are you kidding me? That's Michael Schumacher's Helmet. And of course, its autographed." Richy exclaimed. "Yeah dad was a big fan." I said. "Nice. We would have had a lot to talk about if he was an F1 fan." Richy said. "I am pretty sure that you would. He would have liked you." I said smiling at him. Richy turned to look at me, "Just him?"

I didn't say anything. "You are not going to say anything to me?" he said cocking his head to one side. "Ok. I need to tell you this. I don't want to say or do something that confuses you because I am really really confused about whats happening between you and me. Jake is acting like an ass or he is an ass, I don't know but it wasn't an act from my side. I haven't been able to process things and I don't know when I will be. I feel like I am really into Jake but then you show up and things started getting really murky. I need time to figure things out so I don't want to say something without meaning them. Does that make sense?" I said breathlessly. This was weighing in on me and I was glad that had set my cards on the table. I didn't want to be vague or ambiguous. Richy looked at me and smiled, "Well this may annoy you again, but I am glad to know that you acknowledge that we have something. Look I am not a genius like him and I might have the odds stacked up against me but I can't deny that I really like you. Take your time. I am a patient guy." Flashes of Jake saying something similar haunted me. "And you said that." I mumbled. "I'm sorry?" Richy said. "Oh nothing. Thank you for understanding. Well we do have some time to rest and freshen up. Guest room is down the hall to the right." I said. "Sure thanks." Richy said walking down the hall. I wondered if I was being naïve about Jake and giving up on something real and honest.