The Letter - Part 3, Chapter 40

I sat in my robe and pajamas watching the local news.  The doorbell rang.  “What happened, Jennifer?  Did you forget your key?” I called as I headed toward the door

I opened the door.  There stood Jeff looking quite disheveled.  He was flanked by Liz and Mikey.  I stared at the three of them trying to understand the situation.  “Where’s Jennifer?”

“It’s sort of complicated,” Jeff started to say.

“What the hell are you talking about?  Young man, where in heaven’s name is my daughter?”

“Calm down, Mr. Leskovic,” said Liz.  “She’s fine.  Can we come in?  We’ll tell you everything we know.”

Jennifer’s three friends explained how Melissa had come into the dance and practically dragged Jennifer to the limousine.

 “Yeah, Jeff slugged the guy.  Didn’t even faze that damned bruiser.  Oh, sorry.” Mikey covered his mouth with his hand.  “Then security threw Jeff out of the dance.”

“Yeah, I wasn’t sure what to do,” said Jeff. “I didn’t have your phone number, and it wouldn’t have done any good to call Jen’s phone.”

“It was still in her purse on our table.”  Liz explained, handing Jennifer’s purse to me.

“I thought about trying to follow them or driving back here to tell you what had happened,” said Jeff. “But I knew the dance was almost over and I was responsible for getting Liz and Mikey back to Liz’s place, so I just sat in the car waiting.”

“Mikey and I tried to leave right away, but security stopped us to ask questions about what we had seen,” said Liz.  “But as soon as they let us go, we gathered up our things and left, hoping Jeff was waiting for us, which he was,” Liz added.

“Jeff, you did the right thing,” I told him.  “Though I’m not so sure hitting the guy was a good choice.”

“I guess I took a tip from you,” Jeff gave a wan smile.

“I suppose it will be a while before I live down that punch.  I think all of Pittsburgh saw it.”

“That’s what happens when you’re caught on film,” said Mikey.  “They replayed it over and over.  My dad says it made you the poster boy for the gun control movement.”

“If that didn’t, your article in tomorrow’s paper will,” said Liz.

“I wish we could have stopped them, but after security grabbed me, I wasn’t sure what else I could do.  At least they didn’t call in the township police.  They just gave me a stern warning and escorted me out.  My parents will probably ground me when they hear about this.”

“Well, they won’t hear about it from me,” I assured Jeff.

“Thanks, but I’m going to tell them anyway.  It’s better that they hear about this directly from me.”  Jeff paused, gathering his thoughts.  “You know, their grabbing Jen.  It almost seemed like a kidnapping.”

“That’s exactly what it was from a legal standpoint.  I’ll need to sort this out with my lawyer unless I can’t get my ex to voluntarily return Jennifer ASAP.  But that’s my concern, not yours.  You kids better get home.  It’s getting late.  I don’t want your parents to worry.”

The three of them stood up and started walking toward the door.  

“We’re so sorry this happened, Mr. Leskovic,” said Liz.

“Thank you, Liz.  We’ll get her back.”  I watched them walk to Jeff’s car and closed the door.

Immediately, I pulled my cell phone out of the pocket of my robe and dialed Melissa’s number.  Of course, she didn’t answer.  After listening to her message prompt, I said, “Listen, Melissa, you had no legal right to do what you did tonight.  You better bring Jennifer home, immediately.  In fact, I’m driving out to your place directly and you need to let her come home with me!”  I terminated the call and ran up to my bedroom to change into my clothes.

It was 11:30 PM by the time I got into my car.  It was a forty minute drive to Richard and Melissa’s estate.  I pulled up to the gate and parked.  There was a call button next to the gate, and I pushed it.  A few minutes later, a pack of guard dogs came running toward the gate. No doubt they were sent to discourage any thoughts I might have had about scaling the gate and pounding on their front door.  With the dogs barking viciously at me, I continued to push the call button, but after about 20 minutes it was clear that they were prepared to wait me out. 

There was nothing I could do for now.  I climbed back into my car and drove home.  It was close to 1:30 when I let myself in.  I called for Jennifer hoping Melissa had come to her senses and had brought her back.  But it was a vain hope; I checked her bedroom and it was empty. 

I changed back into my pajamas and poured myself a whiskey.  I sat in the dark sipping it, thinking through options.  I finished the whiskey and thought about pouring another.  I decided against it.  I’ll need a clear head in the morning.